HIV cure: global overview of bNAbs’ patents and related scientific publications

Abstract

This article provides a global overview of patent deposits for broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs), which have emerged as a key strategy for HIV cure and future HIV vaccines. Scientific and technological barriers to the discovery of an effective HIV vaccine in the last 40 years have raised concerns on the potential for relevant advances in this area. Nevertheless, recent breakthrough studies have identified novel immune pathways for new innovative HIV vaccine and HIV cure strategies. Areas covered: In our patent study, we have identified in a global scale, in the last decade, a sharp increase in the number of bNAbs' patent deposits related to HIV prevention and treatment strategies, reaching 90 bNAbs in 2017, protected by 184 different patent deposits. Refining our patent search to the different stages of bNAbs' development has also allowed us to identify 12 of them already at clinical stage of research (VRC01, 10E8, 3BNC117, 10-1074, 2G12, 2F5, KD-247, 4E10, PG9, PGDM1400, PGT121, and VRC07). We describe these recent breakthroughs and discuss the prospects and limitations of these novel strategies. Expert opinion: Our results indicate the intellectual property outcomes of a scientific revolution in this field, expressing innovative modifications in antibodies to increase their potency and half-life, which have resulted in extremely potent antibodies that could provide novel preventive and therapeutic HIV strategies.

Specific Biological Features of Adipose Tissue, and Their Impact on HIV Persistence

“…Secondly, the "deep latency" strategy adopt the opposite approach; proviral HIV is silenced so that it cannot rebound (Elsheikh et al, 2019). Lastly, recent studies have isolated several neutralizing monoclonal antibodies from HIV-infected patientsopening up the use of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) as a potentially curative treatment for HIV (Possas et al, 2018). It has been suggested that bnAbs can control HIV replication and reactivate latent cells, although the use of these antibodies to specifically target HIV-1 in humans constitutes a major challenge (Shen et al, 2019).…”

Making a Monkey out of Human Immunodeficiency Virus/Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Pathogenesis: Immune Cell Depletion Experiments as a Tool to Understand the Immune Correlates of Protection and Pathogenicity in HIV Infection

“…Humoral immune responses are critical for preventing, controlling, and eradicating HIV infection, as demonstrated by the numerous studies employing bNAbs [ 239 , 240 , 241 , 242 , 243 , 244 , 245 , 246 , 247 , 248 , 249 , 250 , 251 , 252 , 253 ]. The results of the Thai Phase III HIV Type 1 Vaccine Trial (RV144) demonstrated that antibody responses were responsible for the modest protection conferred by the administration of the ALVAC-HIV (vCP1521) prime and AIDSVAX B/E vaccine [ 8 ], further fueling the research on antibody responses in HIV infection and leading to the discovery of bNAbs and the design of new strategies for HIV prevention and eradication [ 254 , 255 ].…”