Structural and immunogenetic signatures guide CD4-mimetic HIV vaccine development.
Bader, D.L.V., Flynn, C.T., Kalyuzhniy, O., Ozorowski, G., Corcoran, M.M., Burns, A., Altman, P., Rouzeau, R., Sincomb, T., Liguori, A., Fernandez-Quintero, M.L., Loeffler, J.R., Torres, J.L., Turner, H.L., Georgeson, E., Zhou, A., Voic, H., Goo, S., Shahin, L., Burton, I., Wu, M., Stanfield, R.L., Eskandarzadeh, S., Lu, D., Alavi, N., Phelps, N., Tingle, R., McKenney, K., Youhanna, J., Amirzehni, S., Schiffner, T., Steichen, J.M., Burton, D.R., Wilson, I.A., Karlsson Hedestam, G.B., Landais, E., Lee, J.H., Sok, D., Cottrell, C.A., Ward, A.B., Schief, W.R.(2026) Cell Rep 45: 117180-117180
- PubMed: 41996239 Search on PubMed
- DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2026.117180
- Primary Citation Related Structures: 
9PIT, 9PIV - PubMed Abstract: 
HIV vaccine strategies include aims to elicit broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) targeting the CD4-binding site, that are derived from immunoglobulin heavy-chain variable genes 1-2 (V H 1-2) and 1-46 (V H 1-46). Here, we present an integrated analysis of V H 1-46 bnAbs, including in vitro functional studies, cryo-electron microscopy structures of two V H 1-46 bnAbs (1-23 and 9-71) complexed with envelope trimers, and comprehensive structural and immunogenetic analyses, to help guide vaccine design. We show that V H 1-46-derived bnAbs use diverse light-chain variable (V K /V L ) genes and LCDR3 lengths commonly found in human antibody repertoires, which generate unique LCDR3 signatures that influence both the antibody paratope and approach angle. We identify three V H 1-46 bnAb classes, 1B2530 (V L 1-47), CH235 (V K 3-15), and 561 (V K 3-20), with the 561 class further subdivided into types I and II. Our findings indicate that V H 1-46 priming immunogens should be tailored to each bnAb class, with 561-class bnAbs presenting optimal targets for germline-targeting vaccine design.
- Department of Immunology and Microbiology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; IAVI Neutralizing Antibody Center, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; Consortium for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD), The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA; Department of Integrative Structural and Computational Biology, The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA.
Organizational Affiliation: 





















