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. 2023 Apr 20;11(4):871.
doi: 10.3390/vaccines11040871.

SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies to B.1 and to BA.5 Variant after Booster Dose of BNT162b2 Vaccine in HIV Patients COVID-Naïve and on Successful Antiretroviral Therapy

Ilaria Vicenti  1 , Monica Basso  2 , Nicole Pirola  2 , Beatrice Bragato  2 , Maria Cristina Rossi  3 , Mario Giobbia  3 , Susanna Pascoli  4 , Antonio Vinci  5 , Sara Caputo  2 , Ilenia Varasi  1 , Camilla Biba  1 , Lia Fiaschi  1 , Maurizio Zazzi  1 , Saverio Giuseppe Parisi  2
Affiliations

SARS-CoV-2 Neutralizing Antibodies to B.1 and to BA.5 Variant after Booster Dose of BNT162b2 Vaccine in HIV Patients COVID-Naïve and on Successful Antiretroviral Therapy

Ilaria Vicenti et al. Vaccines (Basel). .

Abstract

Live virus neutralization is the gold standard to investigate immunity. This prospective observational study aimed to determine the magnitude of response against the original B.1 lineage and against the BA.5 lineage six months after the third BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine dose in patients with HIV infection on successful antiretroviral treatment and no previous SARS-CoV-2 infection. A total of 100 subjects (M/F 83/17, median age 54 years) were included in the analysis: 95 had plasma HIV RNA <40 copies/mL, the median CD4+ T cell count at the administration of the third dose was 580 cells/mm3, and the median nadir CD4+ T cell count was 258 cells/mm3. Neutralizing antibodies (NtAb) against B.1 were detectable in all the subjects, but those to BA.5 were only detected in 88 (p < 0.001). The median NtAb titer to B.1 was significantly higher than that to BA.5 (393 vs. 60, p < 0.0001), and there was a strong positive correlation between the paired measurements (p < 0.0001). Linear regression on a subset of 87 patients excluding outlier NtAb titers showed that 48% of the changes in NtAb titers to BA.5 are related to the changes in value titers to B.1. SARS-CoV-2 variants evolve rapidly, challenging the efficacy of vaccines, and data on comparative NtAb responses may help in tailoring intervals between vaccine doses and in predicting vaccine efficacy.

Keywords: B.1 lineage; BA.5 lineage; BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine; HIV; SARS-CoV-2; neutralizing antibodies; third dose.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analysis, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript; or in the decision to publish the results.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Linear regression between B.1 titers and BA.5 titers in HIV patients 6 months after the third BNT162b2 vaccine dose (entire cohort). NtAb titers are expressed as ID50, which is the reciprocal value of the sera dilution and shows 50% protection from the virus-induced cytopathic effect.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Linear regression between B.1 and BA.5 titers in HIV patients 6 months after the third BNT162b2 vaccine dose (outliers excluded from cohort). NtAb titers are expressed as ID50, which is the reciprocal value of the sera dilution and shows 50% protection from the virus-induced cytopathic effect.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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