Virus-Like Particles Carrying HIV-1 Env with a Modulated Glycan Composition

Previously obtained highly immunogenic Env-VLPs ensure overcoming the natural resistance of HIV-1 surface proteins associated with their low level of incorporation and inaccessibility of conserved epitopes to induce neutralizing antibodies. We also adopted this technology to modify Env trimers of the ZM53(T/F) strain to produce Env-VLPs by recombinant vaccinia viruses (rVVs). For VLP production, rVVs expressing Env, Gag-Pol (HIV-1/SIV), and the cowpox virus hr gene, which overcomes the restriction of vaccinia virus replication in CHO cells, were used. The CHO Lec1 engineered cell line lacking GlcNAc-TI was used for generating VLPs with Env proteins containing a cytoplasmic (CT) domain affecting the surface subunit (SU) conformation. This has created the opportunity to modulate the glycan composition, and refine the conditions for their production, and optimize approaches to overcoming HIV-1 resistance associated with abundant glycosylation.