HIV-1 Envelope glycoprotein (Env) (HIV-1 Env)

The HIV-1 Envelope glycoprotein (Env) is the sole viral protein on the surface of HIV-1 and is responsible for mediating viral entry into host cells by binding to CD4 and coreceptors (Sanders et al., 2013). The BG505 DS-SOSIP.664 variant is a highly engineered, soluble, prefusion-stabilized trimer designed to mimic the native functional spike of the virus (Kwon et al., 2015). By stabilizing the trimer in its prefusion state using disulfide bonds (DS) and proline substitutions (IP), it effectively exposes epitopes for broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) while masking non-neutralizing epitopes (He et al., 2018). This molecule serves as a primary target for vaccine development, aiming to elicit a robust immune response that can prevent HIV-1 infection across diverse strains (Pauthner et al., 2017). In therapeutic contexts, the Env trimer is the target for passive immunization using monoclonal antibodies like VRC01 or 10-1074, which block viral attachment or fusion (Caskey et al., 2017). Additionally, small molecule inhibitors such as Fostemsavir target the gp120 subunit of the Env complex to prevent the initial interaction with host cells (Kozal et al., 2020).

Other names

BG505 DS-SOSIP.664gp140gp160HIV-1 Envelope trimerPrefusion-stabilized Envgp120/gp41 complex

Neutralization of HIV-1 infection by binding to the envelope glycoprotein, thereby blocking the CD4 binding site or preventing the conformational changes required for viral-host membrane fusion.