Innovative Machine Learning-Driven Discovery of Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies Against HIV-1 Using the RAIN Computational Pipeline
How do bNAbs combat HIV-1?
bNAbs combat HIV-1 by targeting the virus's envelope proteins, which are crucial for viral entry into host cells. These antibodies have the ability to neutralize a wide range of HIV-1 strains by binding to conserved regions on the envelope proteins, thus preventing the virus from infecting new cells. This makes bNAbs a promising tool for both prevention and treatment of HIV-1 infections.
What challenges exist in identifying new bNAbs?
Identifying new bNAbs is challenging due to the labor-intensive process involving B-cell isolation and high-throughput next-generation sequencing. The rapid mutation and immune evasion mechanisms of HIV-1 further complicate the discovery of new bNAbs. Additionally, robust criteria for distinguishing bNAbs from other antibodies are still needed, and traditional methods relying on amino acid sequences or structural alignment have limitations due to the significant sequence diversity of bNAbs.
How were memory B cells isolated for the study?
Memory B cells were isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) using magnetic microbeads, followed by fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) to achieve high purity of CD20+ IgG+ cells2.