Profiling Human Papillomavirus Lineage-Specific Capsid Antigenicity With Geographically Diverse Natural Infection Antibodies

Human papillomavirus variants are classified into lineages based on their whole genome sequence, but the impact of lineage variation on the structure or function of encoded proteins is unclear. We used a global panel of lineage-specific natural infection sera to assess antibody-binding specificity for lineage-specific L1L2 antigens, and we used these data to create relational antigenic maps. Merging these data with neutralizing antibody data demonstrated similar spatial geometry and revealed dependency on a limited number of amino residues on the capsid surface. These data inform the degree of lineage specificity within the natural infection humoral immune response to oncogenic human papillomaviruses.