Sublingual Priming with a HIV gp41-Based Subunit Vaccine Elicits Mucosal Antibodies and Persistent B Memory Responses in Non-Human Primates Bekri, Selma Bourdely, Pierre Luci, Carmelo Dereuddre-Bosquet, Nathalie Su, Bin Martinon, Fréderic Braud, Véronique M. Luque Fernández, Irene Mateo Alarcón, Pedro Luis Crespillo, Sara Conejero Lara, Francisco Moog, Christiane Grand, Roger Le Anjuère, Fabienne Sublingual immunization Mucosal antibodies B Memory response Neutralization HIV Trimeric gp41 Cholera toxin B subunit Persistent B cell responses in mucosal tissues are crucial to control infection against sexually transmitted pathogens like human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1). The genital tract is a major site of infection by HIV. Sublingual (SL) immunization in mice was previously shown to generate HIV-specific B cell immunity that disseminates to the genital tract. We report here the immunogenicity in female cynomolgus macaques of a SL vaccine based on a modified gp41 polypeptide coupled to the cholera toxin B subunit designed to expose hidden epitopes and to improve mucosal retention. Combined SL/intramuscular (IM) immunization with such mucoadhesive gp41-based vaccine elicited mucosal HIV-specific IgG and IgA antibodies more efficiently than IM immunization alone. This strategy increased the number and duration of gp41-specific IgA secreting cells. Importantly, combined immunization improved the generation of functional antibodies 3 months after vaccination as detected in HIV-neutralizing assays. Therefore, SL immunization represents a promising vaccine strategy to block HIV-1 transmission. 2017-03-10T12:21:32Z 2017-03-10T12:21:32Z 2017 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Bekri, S.; et al. Sublingual Priming with a HIV gp41-Based Subunit Vaccine Elicits Mucosal Antibodies and Persistent B Memory Responses in Non-Human Primates. Frontiers in Immunology, 8: 63 (2017). [http://hdl.handle.net/10481/45202] 1664-3224 http://hdl.handle.net/10481/45202 10.3389/fimmu.2017.00063 eng nfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/201038 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 License Frontiers Media