SARS-CoV-2 humoral and cellular immune responses in COVID-19 convalescent individuals with HIV-1

MARÍA BELÉN VECCHIONE; DENISE GIANNONE; ALEJANDRO CZERNIKIER; MARÍA LAURA POLO; VIRGINIA GONZALEZ POLO; LEONEL CRUCES; YANINA GHIGLIONE; SILVIA BALINOTTI; YESICA LONGUEIRA; GABRIELA TURK; NATALIA LAUFER; MARIA FLORENCIA QUIROGA; BBEI WORKING GROUP

THE JOURNAL OF INFECTION.

W B SAUNDERS CO LTD

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2022

0163-4453

Denise Giannone and María Belén Vecchione Contributed equally to this work.The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2, etiologic agent of COVID-19, has raised concerns around the world and Argentina was not the exception3. PWH were, a priori, considered an at-risk population for severe COVID-19. As clinical and immunological data was generated, controversies emerged mainly because different studies included PWH with different progression rates and PWH on and off antiretrovirals (ART). In this line, we aimed to study the immune landscape that occurs after COVID-19 in PWH. To that, we performed a cross-sectional study. Between April and December 2020 peripheral blood samples from donors to the Argentinean Biobank of Infectious Diseases (BBEI) with confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis were collected at convalescence. Serum, plasma and PBMCs were fractioned from blood samples. SARS-CoV-2-specific Levels and titers of SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG antibodies were evaluated by ELISA. Viral neutralization assays were performed . Flow cytometry was performed to determine the frequency of CD4+ and CD8+T-lymphocytes, antibody-secreting cells (ASC), follicular helper T-cells (Tfh) and soluble plasma mediators (CBA assays). Finally, SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses were determined by ELISpot assays using viral proteins and peptide pools as stimuli (Supplemental materials).Our data support the landscape of reduced cellular responses and altered plasma cytokines concurrent with effective antibodies responses against SARS-CoV-2 in PWH on-ART, which reinforces the idea of a significant impact of ART not only in HIV control but also in reducing overall morbi-mortality by, for instance, helping to restrict other infections.