An Immunodominant Region of the Envelope Glycoprotein of Small Ruminant Lentiviruses May Function as Decoy Antigen.

Zahno, Marie-Luise; Bertoni, Giuseppe (2018). An Immunodominant Region of the Envelope Glycoprotein of Small Ruminant Lentiviruses May Function as Decoy Antigen. Viruses, 10(5) Molecular Diversity Preservation International MDPI 10.3390/v10050231

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(1) Background: Small ruminant lentiviruses (SRLV) persist in infected goats that mount a strong humoral immune response characterized by low neutralizing titers. In this study, we characterized the antibody response to SU5, a variable, immunodominant epitope of the envelope glycoprotein of SRLV. We tested the working hypothesis that the variability of SU5 reflects escape from neutralizing antibody. (2) Methods: Affinity purified anti-SU5 antibody were tested for their neutralizing activity to the homologous lentivirus. Virus culture supernatant—in native form or following sonication and filtration—was used to test the ability of free envelope glycoproteins to compete for binding in a SU5-peptide-ELISA. (3) Results: Anti-SU5 antibodies are not neutralizing, strongly suggesting that they do not bind intact viral particles. In contrast, shed envelope glycoproteins efficiently compete for binding in a SU5-ELISA, providing convincing evidence that the SU5 epitope is exposed only on shed envelope glycoproteins. (4) Conclusions: Our results show that the antibody engaging SU5 is not neutralizing and does not appear to bind to SU expressed at the surface of virus particles. We propose that SU5 is a potential decoy epitope exposed on shaded envelope glycoproteins, luring the humoral immune response in committing an original antigenic sin to a functionally irrelevant epitope.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP) > Institute of Virology and Immunology
05 Veterinary Medicine > Department of Infectious Diseases and Pathobiology (DIP)

UniBE Contributor:

Zahno, Marie-Luise, Bertoni, Giuseppe

Subjects:

600 Technology > 630 Agriculture

ISSN:

1999-4915

Publisher:

Molecular Diversity Preservation International MDPI

Language:

English

Submitter:

Barbara Bach

Date Deposited:

17 Dec 2018 09:41

Last Modified:

05 Dec 2022 15:21

Publisher DOI:

10.3390/v10050231

PubMed ID:

29724026

Uncontrolled Keywords:

caprine arthritis encephalitis virus CAEV decoy antigen escape immunodominant epitope lentivirus neutralizing antibody original antigenic sin small ruminant lentiviruses SRLV

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.122132

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/122132

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