Determinants of antibody response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 mRNA vaccines in people with HIV. AIDS
Chammartin et al. aimed to investigate factors that influence the antibody response to both SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines in people with HIV (PWH).
The authors systematically tested the association of antibody titers to SARS-CoV-2 with routinely collected clinical, laboratory and life style factors. In particular, they looked at SARS-CoV-2 vaccine type (BNT162b2 versus mRNA-1273). Antibody reactivity was measured with the immunoassay ABCORA that assesses antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 and also allows for a reliable prediction of neutralization activity against the SARS-CoV-2 Wuhan-Hu-1 strain.
Between April 19 and June 9 2021, 352 PWH from the SHCS were enrolled in the COVERALL trial. For the current analysis, they included 333 PWH who received two doses of the vaccines and had an antibody response measured 8 ±4 weeks after the second vaccination. Antibody response was higher among PWH less than 60 years, with CD4R cell count superior to 350 cells/ml and vaccinated with mRNA-1273 by Moderna compared with BNT162b2 by Pfizer-BioNTech. Preinfection with SARS-CoV-2 boosted the antibody response and smokers had an overall lower antibody response.
In conclusion, the study results strongly encourage PWH, most importantly older patients and those with lower CD4+ cell counts, to receive mRNA vaccine boosters to improve SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing antibody titers.