Data from: DNA origami vaccines program antigen-focused germinal centers

Priming rare subdominant precursor B cells in germinal centers (GCs) is a
central goal of vaccination to generate broadly neutralizing antibodies
(bnAbs) against HIV. Multivalent immunogen display on protein nanoparticle
scaffolds can promote such responses, but it also generates scaffold-
specific B cells that could theoretically limit bnAb precursor expansion
in GCs. We rationally designed DNA origami–based virus–like particles
(DNA- VLPs) displaying a germline- targeting HIV envelope protein
immunogen, which elicited no scaffold-specific antibody responses.
Compared with a state- of- the- art clinical protein nanoparticle, these
DNA- VLPs increased the expansion of epitope-specific GC B cells relative
to off-target B cells and enhanced expansion of bnAb- lineage B cells in a
humanized mouse model of CD4 binding site priming. Thus, minimizing
off-target responses enhances bnAb priming and indicate DNA- VLPs are a
promising vaccine platform.