Sisteré-Oró, MartaAndrade, NaínaWortmann, Diana D. J.Du, JuanGarcia Giralt, NatàliaGonzález Cao, MaríaGüerri Fernández, RobertoMeyerhans, Andreas2022-11-142022-11-142022Sisteré-Oró M, Andrade N, Wortmann DDJ, Du J, Garcia-Giralt N, González-Cao M, Güerri-Fernández R, Meyerhans A. Anti-SARS-COV-2 specific immunity in HIV immunological non-responders after mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccination. Front Immunol. 2022 Aug 26;13:994173. DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.9941731664-3224http://hdl.handle.net/10230/54830Individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) belong to the group of people most vulnerable to SARS-CoV-2 infections and the associated disease COVID-19. Here we describe SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody and cellular immune responses in a small cohort of immunological non-responder HIV-1 patients (HIV-INRs) after receiving the COVID-19 mRNA-based BioNTech/Pfizer vaccine. Compared to the control group of vaccinated healthy individuals that all developed a virus-specific immune response, 5 of 10 vaccinated HIV-1 patients showed insufficient immune responses. The lack of response was not directly correlated with patients CD4 cell counts. Three of the five non-responders that agreed to receive a booster vaccination subsequently generated a virus-specific response. Thus, even HIV-INRs can be efficiently vaccinated against COVID-19 but may require a follow-up by virus-specific immune monitoring to guarantee clinical vaccine benefits.application/pdfeng© 2022 Sisteré-Oró, Andrade, Wortmann, Du, Garcia-Giralt, González-Cao, Güerri-Fernández and Meyerhans. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.info:eu-repo/semantics/articlehttp://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2022.994173COVID-19 vaccinationHIV-1SARS-CoV-2Immunological non-responder (INR)Immunosuppressioninfo:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess