%0 Journal Article %A Jonathon E. Himes %A Ria Goswami %A Riley J. Mangan %A Amit Kumar %A Thomas L. Jeffries, Jr. %A Joshua A. Eudailey %A Holly Heimsath %A Quang N. Nguyen %A Justin Pollara %A Celia LaBranche %A Meng Chen %A Nathan A. Vandergrift %A James W. Peacock %A Faith Schiro %A Cecily Midkiff %A Guido Ferrari %A David C. Montefiori %A Xavier Alvarez-Hernandez %A Pyone Pyone Aye %A Sallie R. Permar %T Polyclonal HIV envelope-specific breast milk antibodies limit founder SHIV acquisition and cell-associated virus loads in infant rhesus monkeys %D 2017 %R 10.1101/145524 %J bioRxiv %P 145524 %X Vertical HIV-1 transmission via breastfeeding is the predominant contributor to pediatric infections that are ongoing in this era of highly effective antiretroviral therapy (ART). Remarkably, only ~10% of infants chronically exposed to the virus via breastfeeding from untreated HIV-infected mothers become infected, suggesting the presence of naturally protective factors in breast milk. HIV-specific maternal antibodies are obvious candidates as potential contributors to this protection. This study assessed the protective capacity of common HIV envelope-specific non-broadly neutralizing antibodies isolated from breast milk of HIV-infected women in an infant rhesus monkey (RM), tier 2 SHIV oral challenge model. Prior to oral SHIV challenge, infant RMs were i.v. infused with either a single weakly-neutralizing monoclonal antibody (mAb), a tri-mAb cocktail with neutralizing and ADCC functionalities, or an anti-influenza HA control mAb. Of these groups, the fewest tri-mAb-treated infants developed plasma viremia (2/6, 3/6, and 6/8 animals viremic in tri-mAb, single-mAb, and control mAb groups, respectively). Tri-mAb-treated infants demonstrated significantly fewer transmitted/founder SHIV variants in plasma and decreased peripheral CD4+ T cell proviral loads at 8 week post-challenge compared to control mAb-treated infants. Abortive infection was observed as detectable CD4+ T cell provirus in non-viremic control mAb- and single-mAb-, but not tri-mAb-treated animals. Taken together, these results support the potential viability of maternal or infant vaccine strategies that elicit non-broadly neutralizing antibodies to prevent vertical transmission of HIV through breastfeeding. %U https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2017/06/03/145524.full.pdf