Modification of the Association Between T-Cell Immune Responses and Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Infection Risk by Vaccine-Induced Antibody Responses in the HVTN 505 Trial

J Infect Dis. 2018 Mar 28;217(8):1280-1288. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiy008.

Abstract

Background: HVTN 505 was a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) preventive vaccine efficacy trial of a DNA/recombinant adenovirus serotype 5 (rAd5) vaccine regimen. We assessed antibody responses measured 1 month after final vaccination (month 7) as correlates of HIV-1 acquisition risk.

Methods: Binding antibody responses were quantified in serum samples from 25 primary endpoint vaccine cases (diagnosed with HIV-1 infection between month 7 and month 24) and 125 randomly sampled frequency-matched vaccine controls (HIV-1 negative at month 24). We prespecified for a primary analysis tier 6 antibody response biomarkers that measure immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin A (IgA) binding to Env proteins and 2 previously assessed T-cell response biomarkers.

Results: Envelope-specific IgG responses were significantly correlated with decreased HIV-1 risk. Moreover, the interaction of IgG responses and Env-specific CD8+ T-cell polyfunctionality score had a highly significant association with HIV-1 risk after adjustment for multiple comparisons.

Conclusions: Vaccinees with higher levels of Env IgG have significantly decreased HIV-1 risk when CD8+ T-cell responses are low. Moreover, vaccinees with high CD8+ T-cell responses generally have low risk, and those with low CD8+ T-cell and low Env antibody responses have high risk. These findings suggest the critical importance of inducing a robust IgG Env response when the CD8+ T-cell response is low.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • AIDS Vaccines / immunology*
  • Antibody Formation / immunology
  • CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / physiology*
  • HIV Antibodies / blood
  • HIV Infections / prevention & control*
  • HIV-1 / immunology
  • Humans
  • Immunoglobulin G / blood
  • Immunoglobulin G / classification
  • Male

Substances

  • AIDS Vaccines
  • HIV Antibodies
  • Immunoglobulin G