Researchers Track the Mutations That Allow HIV-1 to Escape Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies

How HIV-1 Develops Resistance to Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies

One of the most challenging aspects of combatting HIV-1 infection is that the virus continually evades neutralizing antibodies. However, one consequence of this is that a small percentage of people with HIV-1 (1-5%) develop rare, broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) that can neutralize a large fraction of global HIV-1 isolates. These broadly neutralizing antibodies are among the most promising new long-acting HIV treatments, offering the pote…

Researchers track the mutations that allow HIV-1 to escape broadly neutralizing antibodies

Broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) are among the most promising new treatments for HIV, offering the potential to forego traditional daily dose of antiretroviral drugs. In one recent clinical study of bNAbs identified and developed into therapies at Rockefeller University, participants who received a single dose of two bNAbs maintained a nearly undetectable viral load for up to 20 weeks, and a third did so for about a year. These outcomes s…