Plasma from HIV-1–infected patients neutralizes strains of HIV-2 that have been incubated with soluble CD4 (open circles).

On page 1407, Decker and colleagues trick HIV into exposing itself. This trick revealed that a majority of infected individuals have broadly cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies against HIV in their circulation.

Antibodies that neutralize diverse strains of HIV have been difficult to find, despite decades of searching. Several gp120-specific neutralizing antibodies have been cloned. Some of them target the binding site for the HIV coreceptor C-C chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5), which is exposed only when gp120 engages the CD4 receptor on target cells. Many strains of HIV require CCR5 to infect cells, but this binding site was thought to be weakly antigenic as it is normally hidden from the immune system.

Decker and colleagues now prove this idea wrong and show that the coreceptor binding site is one...

The Rockefeller University Press
2005
The Rockefeller University Press
2005
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