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Defining and Manipulating B Cell Immunodominance Hierarchies to Elicit Broadly Neutralizing Antibody Responses Against Influenza Virus
64 Pages Posted: 18 May 2020 Publication Status: Published
More...Abstract
The antibody repertoire possesses near limitless diversity, enabling the adaptive immune system to accommodate essentially any antigen. However, this diversity explores the antigenic space unequally, allowing some pathogens like influenza virus to impose complex immunodominance hierarchies that distract antibody responses away from key sites of virus vulnerability. We developed a computational model of affinity maturation to map the patterns of immunodominance that evolve upon immunization with natural and engineered displays of hemagglutinin (HA), the influenza vaccine antigen. Based on this knowledge, we designed immunization protocols that subvert immune distraction and focus serum antibody responses upon a functionally conserved, but normally immunologically recessive, target of human broadly neutralizing antibodies. We tested in silico predictions by vaccinating transgenic mice in which antibody diversity was humanized to mirror clinically relevant humoral output. Collectively, our results demonstrate that complex patterns in antibody immunogenicity can be rationally defined and then manipulated to elicit engineered immunity.
Keywords: Antibody targeting, immunodominance, in silico, in vivo, influenza virus, vaccine, germinal center, affinity maturation
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