Characterization of humoral and SARS-CoV-2 specific T cell responses in people living with HIV

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 12; no. 1; pp. 5839 - 16
• Main Authors: Alrubayyi, Aljawharah, Gea-Mallorquí, Ester, Touizer, Emma, Hameiri-Bowen, Dan, Kopycinski, Jakub, Charlton, Bethany, Fisher-Pearson, Natasha, Muir, Luke, Rosa, Annachiara, Roustan, Chloe, Earl, Christopher, Cherepanov, Peter, Pellegrino, Pierre, Waters, Laura, Burns, Fiona, Kinloch, Sabine, Dong, Tao, Dorrell, Lucy, Rowland-Jones, Sarah, McCoy, Laura E., Peppa, Dimitra
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 05.10.2021; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 13; 13/1; 13/106; 13/21; 13/31; 631/250/2152/1566/1571; 631/250/2152/2153/1291; 631/250/255/2514; 631/326/596/4130; Adaptive immunity; Adult; Aged; Antibodies, Viral - blood; Antibodies, Viral - immunology; Antibody Formation - immunology; Antigens, Viral - immunology; Antiretroviral therapy; CD4 antigen; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; CD8 antigen; CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Cohort Studies; COVID-19; COVID-19 - blood; COVID-19 - immunology; COVID-19 - virology; Female; Genome, Human; HIV; HIV Infections - blood; HIV Infections - immunology; HIV Infections - virology; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Immune reconstitution; Immune response; Immune response (humoral); Immune system; Immunity, Humoral; Immunology; Interferon-gamma - metabolism; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Male; Middle Aged; multidisciplinary; Patients; Phenotype; SARS-CoV-2 - physiology; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Species Specificity; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; Tissue Donors; Vaccine efficacy; Viral diseases
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26137-7

There is an urgent need to understand the nature of immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, to inform risk-mitigation strategies for people living with HIV (PLWH). Here we show that the majority of PLWH with ART suppressed HIV viral load, mount a detectable adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2. Humoral and SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses are comparable between HIV-positive and negative subjects and persist 5-7 months following predominately mild COVID-19 disease. T cell responses against Spike, Membrane and Nucleoprotein are the most prominent, with SARS-CoV-2-specific CD4 T cells outnumbering CD8 T cells. We further show that the overall magnitude of SARS-CoV-2-specific T cell responses relates to the size of the naive CD4 T cell pool and the CD4:CD8 ratio in PLWH. These findings suggest that inadequate immune reconstitution on ART, could hinder immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 with implications for the individual management and vaccine effectiveness in PLWH. Understanding the pathology and immunological response to SARS CoV2 infection in specific patient groups is essential for informing the scientific and clinical handling of infections within these patient populations. Here the authors characterise the adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV2 infection in people living with HIV.