HIV broadly neutralizing antibody escapability drives the therapeutic efficacy of vectored immunotherapy

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) have shown promise for prevention and treatment of HIV. Potency and breadth measured in vitro are often used as predictors of clinical potential; however, human studies demonstrate that clinical efficacy of bNAbs can be undermined by both pre-existing and de novo resistance. Here we find that HIV-infected humanized mice receiving bNAbs delivered via AAV as Vectored ImmunoTherapy (VIT) can be used to identify antibody escape paths, which are largely conserved for each bNAb. Path selection, and consequent therapeutic success, is driven by the fitness cost and resistance benefit of emerging mutations. Applying this framework, we independently modulated bNAb resistance or the fitness cost of escape mutants, resulting in enhanced efficacy of VIT. This escape path analysis successfully explains the therapeutic efficacy of bNAbs, and enables a tractable means of quantifying and comparing the potential for viral escape from therapeutics in vivo. Graphical Abstract O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=134 SRC="FIGDIR/small/603156v4_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (40K): org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@180c86borg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1e6108dorg.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@148bac7org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@1de93ca_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG C_FIG