Research project

It is now admitted that neutralizing antibodies play a central role in HIV protection. Such antibodies are therefore the gold standard to induce by vaccination. However, such antibodies are rare and extremely difficult to induce. The project of C. Moog and coworkers is to characterize the functional inhibitory activities of such antibodies in order to improve their induction by vaccination. The Moog group demonstrated that the use of primary HIV isolates are more relevant as the one of adapted strains to detect protective antibodies. They were pioneers in identifying the role of Fc-mediated antibody inhibitory functions in protection against HIV to uncover novel strategies for prevention and treatment of HIV infection and virus-associated diseases. C. Moog and her coworkers identified antibodies displaying various HIV inhibitory functions (phagocytosis, antibody dependent cellular cytotoxicity, virus capture etc) without any neutralizing activity. Their current research project is focused on understanding the inhibitory role of Abs during the early stage of HIV transmission at the mucosal site i.e. to characterize Ab-mediated inhibition in antigen presenting cells and on ex-vivo tissue explants, inhibition of HIV cell-to-cell transmission and lysis of infected cells (ADCC), as well as the mechanisms of Fc-Fc receptor mediated inhibition at mucosa sites. Moreover, in collaboration with R. Carapito, they determine the Fc receptor genotype in various HIV patient cohorts to define the role of this host factor on HIV evolution. These research projects will open a new area of investigations for the induction of functional inhibitory antibodies by vaccination. 

COLLABORATIONS

The group has established multiple collaborations with national and international scientists as Y. Levy, (Creteil, France), O. Lambotte (Kremlin-Bicêtre, France), R. Le Grand (CEA, France), B. Autran (Pitié-Salpêtrière, France), R. Shattock (Imperial College London, UK), C. Geldmacher (LMU Munich, Germany), E. Karamov (Moscow, Russia), S. Zolla-Pazner (Mount Sinai, NY, USA), D. Montefiori (Duke, USA).

They are part of National (LabEx VRI), European (Horizon 2020, EHVA project) and International (ADCC working group, HIP/HVTN) networks aiming to develop new vaccine strategies and promoting HIV vaccine trials for search of correlates of protection.

FUNDING

  • ANRS
  • SIDACTION
  • LabEx
  • 5th, 6th, and 7th PCRD
  • Horizon 2020
  • EU-Russia research and innovation cooperation
  • NIH