Evidence for a Continuous Drift of the HIV-1 Species towards Higher Resistance to Neutralizing Antibodies over the Course of the Epidemic

We compared the neutralization sensitivity of early/transmitted HIV-1 variants from patients infected by subtype B viruses at 3 periods of the epidemic (1987–1991, 1996–2000, 2006–2010). Infectious pseudotyped viruses expressing envelope glycoproteins representative of the viral quasi-species infecting each patient were tested for sensitivity to neutralization by pools of sera from HIV-1 chronically infected patients and by an updated panel of 13 human monoclonal neutralizing antibodies (HuMoNAbs). A progressive significantly enhanced resistance to neutralization was observed over calendar time, by both human sera and most of the HuMoNAbs tested (b12, VRC01, VRC03, NIH45-46(G54W), PG9, PG16, PGT121, PGT128, PGT145). Despite this evolution, a combination of two HuMoNAbs (NIH45-46(G54W) and PGT128) still would efficiently neutralize the most contemporary transmitted variants. In addition, we observed a significant reduction of the heterologous neutralizing activity of sera from individuals infected most recently (2003–2007) compared to patients infected earlier (1987–1991), suggesting that the increasing resistance of the HIV species to neutralization over time coincided with a decreased immunogenicity. These data provide evidence for an ongoing adaptation of the HIV-1 species to the humoral immunity of the human population, which may add an additional obstacle to the design of an efficient HIV-1 vaccine.