Durability of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination in people living with HIV
Ane Ogbe, Matthew Pace, Mustapha Bittaye, Timothy Tipoe, Sandra Adele, Jasmini Alagaratnam, Parvinder K. Aley, M. Azim Ansari, Anna Bara, S Broadhead, Anthony Brown, Helen Brown, Federica Cappuccini, Paola Cinardo, Wanwisa Dejnirattisai, Katie Ewer, Henry Fok, Pedro M. Folegatti, Jamie Fowler, Leila Godfrey, Anna L. Goodman, Bethany Jackson, Daniel Jenkin, Mathew Jones, Stéphanie Longet, Rebecca Makinson, Natalie G. Marchevsky, Moncy Mathew, Andrea Mazzella, Yama F Mujadidi, Lucia Parolini, Claire Petersen, Emma Plested, Katrina M. Pollock, Thurkka Rajeswaran, Maheshi Ramasamy, Sarah Rhead, Hannah Robinson, Nicola Robinson, Helen Sanders, Sonia Serrano, Tom Tipton, Anele Waters, Panagiota Zacharopoulou, Eleanor Barnes, Susanna Dunachie, Philip Goulder, Paul Klenerman, Gavin Screaton, Alan Winston, Adrian V. S. Hill, Sarah C. Gilbert, Miles W. Carroll, Andrew J. Pollard, Sarah Fidler, Julie Fox, Teresa Lambe, John Frater
Abstract
Duration of protection from SARS-CoV-2 infection in people living with HIV (PWH) following vaccination is unclear. In a substudy of the phase II/III the COV002 trial (NCT04400838), 54 HIV+ male participants on antiretroviral therapy (undetectable viral loads, CD4+ T cells > 350 cells/μL) received 2 doses of ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 (AZD1222) 4-6 weeks apart and were followed for 6 months. Responses to vaccination were determined by serology (IgG ELISA and Meso Scale Discovery [MSD]), neutralization, ACE-2 inhibition, IFN-γ ELISpot, activation-induced marker (AIM) assay and T cell proliferation. We show that, 6 months after vaccination, the majority of measurable immune responses were greater than prevaccination baseline but with evidence of a decline in both humoral and cell-mediated immunity. There was, however, no significant difference compared with a cohort of HIV-uninfected individuals vaccinated with the same regimen. Responses to the variants of concern were detectable, although they were lower than WT. Preexisting cross-reactive T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 spike were associated with greater postvaccine immunity and correlated with prior exposure to beta coronaviruses. These data support the ongoing policy to vaccinate PWH against SARS-CoV-2, and they underpin the need for long-term monitoring of responses after vaccination.