{
  "abstract": "T cell correlates of COVID-19 risk are poorly defined, particularly in people with HIV (PWH). CoVPN 3008 (NCT05168813) Part A was a prospective 14,002-participant cohort study that administered one or two doses of mRNA-1273 COVID-19 vaccine, depending on baseline SARS-CoV-2 serostatus, in participants (83% PWH) in sub-Saharan Africa. Participants self-monitored for prespecified COVID-19 symptoms, defined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention symptom criteria. Previous work showed that protection from COVID-19 was superior for hybrid versus vaccine-induced immunity, and that neutralizing antibody titers inversely associated with COVID-19 risk. In the present work, we measured T cell responses to Spike and Nucleocapsid at baseline and 4 weeks post last-vaccination (Peak) in a case-cohort study and assessed them as correlates of risk. In Hybrid Group PWH (n = 22 cases), COVID-19 risk over 6 months decreased with increasing Peak Spike BA.4/5-specific CD4 + T cell responses, from 15.8%, 4.7%, and 0% risk at 0.1%, 0.2%, and 0.3% IFN-γ and/or IL-2 response magnitude, respectively. Including baseline Spike-specific neutralizing antibody titer and Peak CD4 + T cell functionality score in the same model increased the association’s strength (overall p < 0.001). Thus, CD4 + T cell responses are an independent correlate of COVID-19 risk among PWH with pre-existing SARS-CoV-2 immunity.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Cape Town HVTN Immunology Laboratory, Hutchinson Centre Research Institute of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa",
    "Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA USA",
    "Department of Biostatistics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA USA",
    "Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA USA",
    "Department of Biostatistics, School of Global Public Health, New York University, New York, NY USA",
    "Baylor College of Medicine Children’s Foundation-Uganda, Kampala, Uganda",
    "Department of Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA USA",
    "Desmond Tutu HIV Centre, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa",
    "Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Seattle, WA USA",
    "SAMRC Antibody Immunity Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa",
    "National Institute for Communicable Diseases, National Health Laboratory Service, Johannesburg, South Africa",
    "National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD USA",
    "COVID-19 Prevention Network, Seattle, Washington USA",
    "Clinical Trials Research Centre, University of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe",
    "Clinical HIV Research Unit (CHRU), Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa",
    "The Aurum Institute, Rustenburg Clinical Research Site, Rustenburg, South Africa",
    "Synexus Helderberg, Cape Town, South Africa",
    "University of Cape Town Lung Institute Clinical Research Site, Cape Town, South Africa",
    "Wits RHI University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa",
    "TASK, Cape Town, South Africa",
    "Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, FAMCRU (Family Centre for Research with Ubuntu), Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa",
    "Josha Research Clinical Research Site, Bloemfontein, South Africa",
    "Malawi Clinical Research Site, Lilongwe, Malawi",
    "University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine, Chapel Hill, CA USA",
    "CFHRZ - Ndola Clinical Research Site, Ndola, Zambia",
    "The Aurum Institute, Klerksdorp Clinical Research Site, Klerksdorp, South Africa",
    "South African Medical Research Council, Isipingo Clinical Research Site, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa",
    "UNC Global Projects / Kamwala District Health Centre, Lusaka, Zambia",
    "Soweto - Kliptown Clinical Research Site, Soweto, South Africa",
    "Johns Hopkins Research Project (Blantyre CRS), Blantyre, Malawi",
    "Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia",
    "CFHRZ Clinical Research Site, Lusaka, Zambia",
    "Perinatal HIV Research Unit, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Witwatersrand, South Africa",
    "Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute, Gaborone, Botswana",
    "Synergy Biomed Research Institute, East London, South Africa",
    "MERC Middelburg, Middelburg, South Africa",
    "MeCRU CRS, Pretoria, Ga-Rankuwa South Africa",
    "Kisumu Clinical Research Site, Kisumu, Kenya",
    "TASK Eden, Western Cape, South Africa",
    "Joint Clinical Research Centre Lubowa, Lubowa, Uganda"
  ],
  "article_type": "research article",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 93,
  "authors": [
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        0
      ],
      "name": "Sharon Khuzwayo"
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    {
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      "name": "Bo Zhang",
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      "name": "Valentin Voillet",
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      "name": "Leigh H. Fisher",
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      "name": "Manuel Villaran"
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      "name": "Laura Polakowski"
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        11
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      "name": "Margaret Yacovone",
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      "name": "Taraz Samandari",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-4830-6108"
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      "name": "Zvavahera Chirenje"
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      "name": "Sharlaa Badal-Faesen",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7306-5732"
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      "name": "William Brumskine",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1092-9919"
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      "name": "Soritha Coetzer"
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      "name": "Rodney Dawson"
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      "affs": [
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      "name": "Sinead Delany-Moretlwe"
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      "affs": [
        19
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      "name": "Andreas Henri Diacon"
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        20
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      "name": "Samantha Fry"
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      "name": "Katherine Margaret Gill",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-3372-9506"
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      "name": "Zaheer Ahmed Ebrahim Hoosain"
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      "name": "Mina C. Hosseinipour",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2174-313X"
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      "name": "Mubiana Inambao"
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      "name": "Craig Innes",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-6872-5687"
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      "name": "Steve Innes",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-3969-8680"
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        26
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      "name": "Dishiki Kalonji"
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      "name": "Margaret Kasaro",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-7285-998X"
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      "name": "Priya Kassim"
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      "name": "Noel Kayange"
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      "name": "Ethel Kamuti"
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      "name": "William Kilembe",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-9012-7325"
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      "name": "Fatima Laher",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5231-9951"
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      "name": "Joseph Makhema"
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      "name": "Moelo Malahleha"
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      "name": "Vongane Louisa Maluleke"
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      "name": "Matsontso Mathebula"
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      "name": "Grace Mboya"
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      "name": "Kirsten McHarry"
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      "name": "Cissy Kityo Mutuluuza"
    },
    {
      "name": "Pamela Mda"
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    {
      "name": "Essack Mitha"
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    {
      "name": "Sibekezelo Msomi"
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      "name": "Tumelo Moloantoa"
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  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2t8sh4fcjk42w.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41467-026-77995-y",
  "fulltext_url": "https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13714301/",
  "id": "2t8sh4fcjk42w",
  "issns": [
    "2041-1723"
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  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77995-y",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0",
  "licence_label": "CC BY-NC-ND 4.0",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/",
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      "2725|SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research"
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  "pmcid": "PMC13714301",
  "pmid": "42946742",
  "published": "2026-09-28",
  "publisher": "Nature Publishing Group",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2t8sh4fcjk42w.ris",
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    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-01T12:21:49Z",
      "native_id": "PMC13714301",
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      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-77995-y"
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  "subjects": [
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      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "openalex:2725|SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 Research",
      "subfield": "infectious-disease"
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  ],
  "title": "mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in people with HIV: an immune correlates analysis of CD4 + T cell responses in the multicenter CoVPN 3008 observational study",
  "title_text": "mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in people with HIV: an immune correlates analysis of CD4 + T cell responses in the multicenter CoVPN 3008 observational study",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:21:49Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/2t8sh4fcjk42w",
  "venue": "Nature Communications",
  "versions": []
}