Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have developed a method to analyze the glycan shield on HIV’s protective outer glycoprotein, developed as a potential HIV vaccine candidate.
With this method, scientists can rapidly create a “fingerprint” of the glycans on the glycoprotein to tell if they are on the right track in developing an effective vaccine.
With the new method, scientists can finally see which types of glycans make up the glycoprotein—and whether the glycoprotein has any vulnerable holes.
The glycans cover the glycoprotein machinery that HIV uses to enter host cells. The human immune system wants to produce antibodies that bind to the glycoprotein to stop infection, but the glycans block immune cells from seeing their targets and developing useful antibodies.
This new method could also be helpful against viruses with a similar glycoprotein shield, such as influenza.