Enrichment of serum A on HPV31 or HPV58 VLP yielded antibodies capable of recognizing HPV16 and only the type used for enrichment. For example, the pre-treatment titers against HPV31 and HPV58 were 211 and 2696, respectively. Enrichment on HPV58 VLP increased the titer against HPV58 to 6188 but no HPV31 antibody reactivity was selleck compound detectable. Serum B which demonstrated post-enrichment neutralization activity against HPV31, HPV33, HPV35 and HPV58

appeared to comprise multiple antibody specificities that recognized HPV16 and only the indicated non-vaccine type. Enrichment of sera C and D on HPV35 VLP yielded antibodies capable of recognising HPV16 and HPV35, but not HPV31. Antibodies enriched from serum E and F exhibited cross-recognition of more than one non-vaccine type. The enrichment of serum E on HPV31 or HPV33 VLP yielded antibodies capable of recognizing HPV16, HPV31 and HPV33 pseudoviruses. Serum F when enriched on HPV31, HPV33 and HPV58 demonstrated neutralization of HPV31 pseudovirus to a comparable level, and serum F antibodies enriched on HPV31 or SB203580 supplier HPV33 VLP had similar titers against HPV33. The HPV16 titer dropped by a median 1.8 Log10 (IQR 1.7–2.8; n = 13) fold following enrichment on non-vaccine VLP. Enriched antibody titers against HPV16 were similar to the titers observed against the type used for enrichment, for example

antibodies in serum A when enriched on HPV31 VLP neutralized HPV16 and HPV31 at titers of 861 and 795, respectively. Antibodies enriched from nearly serum samples A–F, were also tested against L1 VLP representing the same HPV types (Supplementary material S1). Antibody binding titers further confirmed the observations that non-vaccine type antibodies are a minority species which display similar reactivity against HPV16 and non-vaccine types and again highlighted discrepancies between binding and neutralizing antibody specificity. We undertook a proof of concept study to investigate the cross-neutralizing antibody specificities generate in response to HPV vaccination. Cross-neutralizing

antibodies are elicited in response to both licensed vaccines, Cervarix® and Gardasil®[4], [11], [12] and [13] and this is coincident with differential degrees of vaccine-induced cross-protection [1] and [2], although a direct link between the two observations has not been established. The characterisation of the cross-neutralizing response beyond antibody titer has been limited to studies of avidity [23] and the vaccine-type specificity of cross-neutralizing antibodies [24]. Sera from Cervarix® vaccinees were chosen since it is this vaccine that appears to elicit the broadest cross-neutralization of non-vaccine types [4]. In the present study, sera from Cervarix® vaccinees were shown to have high antibody titers with broad reactivity against L1 VLP with homologous L1 sequences to those of the pseudoviruses.