- Stoddart, Cheryl A;
- Galkina, Sofiya A;
- Joshi, Pheroze;
- Kosikova, Galina;
- Long, Brian R;
- Maidji, Ekaterina;
- Moreno, Mary E;
- Rivera, Jose M;
- Sanford, Ukina R;
- Sloan, Barbara;
- Cieplak, Witold;
- Wrin, Terri;
- Chan-Hui, Po-Ying
Highly potent broadly neutralizing human monoclonal antibodies hold promise for HIV prophylaxis and treatment. We used the SCID-hu Thy/Liv and BLT humanized mouse models to study the efficacy of these antibodies, primarily PG16, against HIV-1 clades A, B, and C. PG16 targets a conserved epitope in the V1/V2 region of gp120 common to 70-80% of HIV-1 isolates from multiple clades and has extremely potent in vitro activity against HIVJR-CSF. PG16 was highly efficacious in SCID-hu mice as a single intraperitoneal administration the day before inoculation of R5-tropic HIV directly into their Thy/Liv implants and demonstrated even greater efficacy if PG16 administration was continued after Thy/Liv implant HIV inoculation. However, PG16 as monotherapy had no activity in humanized mice with established R5-tropic HIV infection. These results provide evidence of tissue penetration of the antibodies, which could aid in their ability to prevent infection if virus crosses the mucosal barrier.