Booster vaccination against SARS-CoV-2 induces potent immune responses in people with HIV

Abstract

BACKGROUND: People with HIV on antiretroviral therapy with good CD4 T cell counts make effective immune responses following vaccination against SARS-CoV-2. There are few data on longer term responses and the impact of a booster dose. METHODS: Adults with HIV were enrolled into a single arm open label study. Two doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 were followed twelve months later by a third heterologous vaccine dose. Participants had undetectable viraemia on ART and CD4 counts >350 cells/µl. Immune responses to the ancestral strain and variants of concern were measured by anti-spike IgG ELISA, MesoScale Discovery (MSD) anti-spike platform, ACE-2 inhibition, Activation Induced Marker (AIM) assay and T cell proliferation. FINDINGS: 54 participants received two doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19. 43 received a third dose (42 with BNT162b2; 1 with mRNA-1273) one year after the first dose. After the third dose, total anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike IgG titres (MSD), ACE-2 inhibition and IgG ELISA results were significantly higher compared to Day 182 titres (P < 0.0001 for all three). SARS-CoV-2 specific CD4+ T cell responses measured by AIM against SARS-CoV-2 S1 and S2 peptide pools were significantly increased after a third vaccine compared to 6 months after a first dose, with significant increases in proliferative CD4 + and CD8+ T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 S1 and S2 after boosting. Responses to Alpha, Beta, Gamma, and Delta variants were boosted, although to a lesser extent for Omicron. CONCLUSIONS: In PWH receiving a third vaccine dose, there were significant increases in B and T cell immunity, including to known VOCs.