South African Medical Research Council, Vaccines and Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
South African Research Chair Initiative in Vaccine Preventable Diseases, Department of Science and Innovation/National Research Foundation, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Sci Rep. 2024 Sep 2;14(1):20348. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-70725-8.
SARS-CoV-2 cell-mediated immunity remains understudied during pregnancy in unvaccinated Black African women living with HIV (WLWH) from low- and middle-income countries. We investigated SARS-CoV-2-specific T-cell responses 1 month following infection in 24 HIV-uninfected women and 15 WLWH at any stage during pregnancy or postpartum. The full-length spike (FLS) glycoprotein and nucleocapsid (N) protein of wild-type (WT) SARS-CoV-2, as well as mutated spike protein regions found in the Omicron variant (B.1.1.529) were targeted by flow cytometry. WT-specific CD4 and CD8 T cells elicited similar FLS- and N-specific responses in HIV-uninfected women and WLWH. SARS-CoV-2-specific T-lymphocytes were predominantly TNF-α monofunctional in pregnant and postpartum women living with and without HIV, with fever cells producing either IFN-γ or IL-2. Furthermore, T-cell responses were unaffected by Omicron-specific spike mutations as similar responses between Omicron and the ancestral virus were detected for CD4 and CD8 T cells. Our results collectively demonstrate comparable T-cell responses between WLWH on antiretroviral therapy and HIV-uninfected pregnant and postpartum women who were naïve to Covid-19 vaccination. Additionally, we show that T cells from women infected with the ancestral virus, Beta variant (B.1.351), or Delta variant (B.1.617.2) can cross-recognize Omicron, suggesting an overall preservation of T-cell immunity.
SARS-CoV-2 细胞介导的免疫在未接种疫苗的感染 HIV 的撒哈拉以南非洲裔黑人女性（WLWH）中在怀孕期间仍未得到充分研究，这些女性来自中低收入国家。我们调查了 24 名未感染 HIV 的女性和 15 名 WLWH 在怀孕期间或产后任何阶段感染后 1 个月的 SARS-CoV-2 特异性 T 细胞反应。使用流式细胞术靶向全长刺突（FLS）糖蛋白和核衣壳（N）蛋白的野生型（WT）SARS-CoV-2，以及在 Omicron 变体（B.1.1.529）中发现的突变刺突蛋白区域。未感染 HIV 的女性和 WLWH 中，WT 特异性 CD4 和 CD8 T 细胞引起的 FLS 和 N 特异性反应相似。感染 HIV 的孕妇和产后妇女以及未感染 HIV 的孕妇和产后妇女中，SARS-CoV-2 特异性 T 淋巴细胞主要为 TNF-α 单功能细胞，发热细胞产生 IFN-γ 或 IL-2。此外，T 细胞反应不受 Omicron 特异性刺突突变的影响，因为在 CD4 和 CD8 T 细胞中检测到了 Omicron 和原始病毒之间的相似反应。我们的研究结果表明，接受抗逆转录病毒治疗的 WLWH 和未感染 HIV 的孕妇和产后妇女的 T 细胞反应相似，这些妇女对新冠疫苗接种没有经验。此外，我们还表明，感染原始病毒、Beta 变体（B.1.351）或 Delta 变体（B.1.617.2）的女性的 T 细胞可以交叉识别 Omicron，这表明 T 细胞免疫总体上得到了保护。
