Harnessing Activin A Adjuvanticity to Promote Antibody Responses to BG505 HIV Envelope Trimers

T follicular helper (T ) cells are powerful regulators of affinity matured long-lived plasma cells. Eliciting protective, long-lasting antibody responses to achieve persistent immunity is the goal of most successful vaccines. Thus, there is potential in manipulating T cell responses. Herein, we describe an HIV vaccine development approach exploiting the cytokine activin A to improve antibody responses against recombinant HIV Envelope (Env) trimers in non-human primates. Administration of activin A improved the magnitude of Env-specific antibodies over time and promoted a significant increase in Env-specific plasma cells in the bone marrow. The boost in antibody responses was associated with reduced frequencies of T follicular regulatory (T ) cells and increased germinal center T follicular helper (GC-T ) to T cell ratios. Overall, these findings suggest that adjuvants inducing activin A production could potentially be incorporated in future rational design vaccine strategies aimed at improving germinal centers, long-lived plasma cells, and sustained antibody responses.