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Research Publications
Inhibitory effect of HIV-specific neutralizing IgA on mucosal transmission of HIV in humanized mice.Hur EM, Patel SN, Shimizu S, Rao DS, Gnanapragasam PN, An DS, Yang L, Baltimore D.Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA; HIV-1 infections are generally initiated at mucosal sites. Thus, IgA antibody, which plays pivotal roles in mucosal immunity, might efficiently prevent HIV infection. However, mounting a highly effective HIV-specific mucosal IgA response by conventional immunization has been challenging and the potency of HIV-specific IgA against infection needs to be addressed in vivo. Here we show that the polymeric IgA form of anti-HIV antibody inhibits HIV mucosal transmission more effectively than the monomeric IgA or IgG1 form in a comparable range of concentrations in humanized mice. To deliver anti-HIV IgA in a continual manner, we devised a hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC)-based genetic approach using an IgA gene. We transplanted human HSPCs transduced with a lentiviral construct encoding a class-switched anti-HIV IgA (b12-IgA) into the humanized bone marrow-liver-thymus (BLT) mice. The transgene was expressed specifically in B cells and plasma cells in lymphoid organs and mucosal sites. After vaginal HIV-1 challenge, mucosal CD4(+) T cells in the b12-IgA-producing mice were protected from virus-mediated depletion. Similar results were also obtained in a second humanized model, "human immune system mice." Our study demonstrates the potential of anti-HIV IgA in immunoprophylaxis in vivo, emphasizing the importance of the mucosal IgA response in defense against HIV/AIDS. |
