Impaired Cellular Immunity and Cross‐Reactive Humoral Responses to Mpox Virus in HIV‐Infected Individuals Vaccinated with Vaccinia Virus Tiantan Strain

In the global response to the current mpox epidemic, understanding immune memory to the vaccinia virus and cross-immunity to the mpox virus (MPXV) among people living with HIV (PLWH) is critical. Blood samples were collected from PLWH born between 1949 and 2002 without MPXV infection, as well as from sex- and age-matched healthy donors (HD). Note that 62% and 56% of vaccinated PLWH born before 1980 had antibodies against the vaccinia virus Tiantan (VTT) strain and MPXV, respectively, though these seropositivity rates were lower than in HD (84% vs. 80%). Neutralizing antibodies were detected in 9% of PLWH, compared to 32% in HD. Notably, in PLWH with CD4 T-cell counts below 500 cells/mm<sup>3</sup>, VTT-IgG and MPXV-IgG titers, as well as VTT-specific memory B cells, were significantly reduced. In PLWH with CD4 T-cell counts below 350 cells/mm<sup>3</sup>, CD4<sup>+</sup> memory T-cell responses were diminished, particularly in IFN-γ and TNF-α responses. In contrast, CD8<sup>+</sup> T-cell responses to MPXV were comparable in PLWH regardless of CD4 T-cell counts. These findings highlight the diminished humoral and CD4<sup>+</sup> T-cell responses in PLWH, particularly in those with lower CD4 T-cell counts, and underscore the necessity for targeted vaccination strategies in this population.

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Journal
MedComm
Published
2025-11-20
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1002/mco2.70399
Primary Topic
Poxvirus research and outbreaks
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Impaired Cellular Immunity and Cross‐Reactive Humoral Responses to Mpox Virus in HIV‐Infected Individuals Vaccinated with Vaccinia Virus Tiantan Strain

Ronghua Jin, Elie Antoun, Jingchuan Zhong, Meiyu Fang et al.
MedComm
Poxvirus research and outbreaks
article

Impaired Cellular Immunity and Cross‐Reactive Humoral Responses to Mpox Virus in HIV‐Infected Individuals Vaccinated with Vaccinia Virus Tiantan Strain

Ronghua Jin, Elie Antoun, Jingchuan Zhong, Meiyu Fang, Fei Guo, Lili Ren, Li Guo, Tao Dong, Hongxin Zhao, Yuanyuan Zhang, Qiao Zhang, Yanan Li, Lan Chen, Jianwei Wang, Danyang Li, Ning Han, Rui Song, Xueqi Chi, Xiaoyou Chen, Yanchun Peng, Huang Yu, Zhixia Gu, Fengwen Xu
article en

Abstract

In the global response to the current mpox epidemic, understanding immune memory to the vaccinia virus and cross-immunity to the mpox virus (MPXV) among people living with HIV (PLWH) is critical. Blood samples were collected from PLWH born between 1949 and 2002 without MPXV infection, as well as from sex- and age-matched healthy donors (HD). Note that 62% and 56% of vaccinated PLWH born before 1980 had antibodies against the vaccinia virus Tiantan (VTT) strain and MPXV, respectively, though these seropositivity rates were lower than in HD (84% vs. 80%). Neutralizing antibodies were detected in 9% of PLWH, compared to 32% in HD. Notably, in PLWH with CD4 T-cell counts below 500 cells/mm<sup>3</sup>, VTT-IgG and MPXV-IgG titers, as well as VTT-specific memory B cells, were significantly reduced. In PLWH with CD4 T-cell counts below 350 cells/mm<sup>3</sup>, CD4<sup>+</sup> memory T-cell responses were diminished, particularly in IFN-γ and TNF-α responses. In contrast, CD8<sup>+</sup> T-cell responses to MPXV were comparable in PLWH regardless of CD4 T-cell counts. These findings highlight the diminished humoral and CD4<sup>+</sup> T-cell responses in PLWH, particularly in those with lower CD4 T-cell counts, and underscore the necessity for targeted vaccination strategies in this population.

MedCommVol. 6(12)
Capital Medical University (CN), Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College (CN), Peking Union Medical College Hospital (CN), University of Oxford (GB), MRC Weatherall Institute of Molecular Medicine (GB), MRC Human Immunology Unit (GB), Science Oxford (GB), Beijing Ditan Hospital (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Science Fund for Creative Research Groups, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences
Openalex Percentile: Top 61%
Poxvirus research and outbreaks
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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