Humoral and cellular immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccine boosters in participants with advanced HIV disease

People living with HIV (PLWH) who experience advanced immunosuppression are susceptible to severe COVID-19 and demonstrate compromised vaccine responses due to low CD4 counts and uncontrolled HIV viral load. Although vaccine boosters enhance immunity in the general population, their immunogenicity in individuals with advanced HIV remains inadequately characterised.

This study evaluated the humoral and cellular immunogenicity of COVID-19 vaccine boosters in 41 individuals with advanced HIV at baseline and 4 weeks post-vaccination. Binding antibodies, neutralising antibodies, antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity (ADCC), as well as spike-specific CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell responses were quantified and characterised.

Booster vaccination was found to increase binding antibody titres (8.0-fold) and neutralising activity (3.9-fold), even among participants with CD4 counts <100 cells/mm³, although absolute responses remained lower than the controls. ADCC activity also modestly increased post-vaccination (2.1-fold). Spike-specific CD4+ T-cell responses increased in magnitude (0.001% to 0.160%, p=0.0001) and responder frequency (49% to 83%, p=0.0167) post-vaccination, while CD8+ T-cell responses remained low. Compared to the controls, PLWH had similar magnitudes of spike-specific CD4+ T-cell responses but significantly lower CD8+ T-cell responses.

COVID-19 vaccine boosters enhance immunity in PLWH, however, the responses remain suboptimal compared to immunocompetent individuals, emphasising the need for tailored vaccination strategies.