UB-612 pan-SARS-CoV-2 T cell immunity-promoting vaccine protects against COVID-19 moderate-severe disease.

UB-612 pan-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccine targets the monomeric Spike S1-receptor binding domain (RBD) subunit protein along with five sequence-conserved T cell epitopes found on Spike S2 and non-Spike M and N proteins. UB-612 vaccination safely induces potent, broad, and long-lasting immunity against SARS-CoV-2. A phase-2 trial-extended observational study during the Omicron BA.2-/BA.5-dominated outbreak was conducted to investigate UB-612's protective effect against COVID-19 hospitalization and intensive care unit (ICU) admission (H-ICU). Additionally, memory viral-neutralizing titer and T cell immunity behind disease protection were explored. No cases of H-ICU were reported beyond 14 months post-second dose or beyond 10 months post-booster (third dose). The positive outcome correlates with strong cytotoxic CD8 T cell immunity, in line with the results of an ongoing phase-3 heterologous booster trial showing that UB-612 can enhance anti-BA.5 seroconversion rate and viral-neutralizing titer for mRNA, adeno-vectored, and virus-inactivated vaccine platforms. The UB-612 multitope vaccine may serve as an effective primer and booster for those at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare services utilization among people living with HIV in Catalonia, Spain: A population-based cohort study.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted healthcare services usage. We estimated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare services utilization among people living with HIV (PLWH) in Catalonia, Spain. METHODS: We accessed public healthcare usage in HIV units, primary care, hospitals, and emergency departments among 17,738 PLWH in the PISCIS cohort from January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2020. We performed an interrupted time series analysis using the autoregressive integrated moving average to estimate the effect of COVID-19 on medical visits and HIV monitoring among PLWH. RESULTS: A non-significant decrease of 17.1% (95% CI: [-29.4, 0.4]) in overall medical visits was observed during the lockdown, followed by a steady resumption until the end of 2020. Three health facilities presented statistically significant declines in visits during the lockdown: HIV units (-44.8% [-56.7, -23.6]), hospitals (-40.4% [-52.8, -18.1]), and emergency departments (-36.9% [-47.0, -21.9]); thereafter, the visits have begun to increase steadily but not to previous levels as of December 2020. In contrast, primary care visits remained unchanged during the lockdown by 1.9% (95% CI: -13.5, 23.9). CD4 cell (54.2% [95% CI: -64.4, -36.0]) and HIV RNA viral load (53.1% [95% CI: -62.9, -36.1]) laboratory monitoring reduced significantly during the lockdown. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 lockdowns significantly disrupted in-person healthcare services usage among PLWH. The reduction in healthcare utilization however did not affect primary care services. Despite services gradually rebounding to pre-pandemic levels, it is imperative to effectively prepare for future pandemics and implement measures to ensure continuous provision of care to PLWH during pandemic lockdowns.

CXCL9 as a Reliable Biomarker for Discriminating Anti-IFN-γ-Autoantibody-Associated Lymphadenopathy that Mimics Lymphoma.

The diagnosis of adult-onset immunodeficiency syndrome associated with neutralizing anti-interferon γ autoantibodies (AIGA) presents substantial challenges to clinicians and pathologists due to its nonspecific clinical presentation, absence of routine laboratory tests, and resemblance to certain lymphoma types, notably nodal T follicular helper cell lymphoma, angioimmunoblastic type (nTFHL-AI). Some patients undergo lymphadenectomy for histopathological examination to rule out lymphoma, even in the absence of a preceding clinical suspicion of AIGA. This study aimed to identify reliable methods to prevent misdiagnosis of AIGA in this scenario through a retrospective case-control analysis of clinical and pathological data, along with immune gene transcriptomes using the NanoString nCounter platform, to compare AIGA and nTFHL-AI. The investigation revealed a downregulation of the C-X-C motif chemokine ligand 9 (CXCL9) gene in AIGA, prompting an exploration of its diagnostic utility. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) targeting CXCL9 was performed on lymph node specimens to assess its potential as a diagnostic biomarker. The findings exhibited a significantly lower density of CXCL9-positive cells in AIGA compared to nTFHL-AI, displaying a high diagnostic accuracy of 92.3% sensitivity and 100% specificity. Furthermore, CXCL9 IHC demonstrated its ability to differentiate AIGA from various lymphomas sharing similar characteristics. In conclusion, CXCL9 IHC emerges as a robust biomarker for differentiating AIGA from nTFHL-AI and other similar conditions. This reliable diagnostic approach holds the potential to avert misdiagnosis of AIGA as lymphoma, providing timely and accurate diagnosis.

Neutralizing Anti-Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor Autoantibodies in Patients With Central Nervous System and Localized Cryptococcosis: Longitudinal Follow-up and Literature Review.

BACKGROUND: Neutralizing anti-granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) autoantibodies (AAbs) have been increasingly recognized to predispose healthy individuals to disseminated cryptococcosis. However, studies have only considered patients with central nervous system (CNS) infection. No longitudinal study has captured the disease spectrum and clinical course. METHODS: We prospectively enrolled adults without human immunodeficiency virus infection who had disseminated or unusual cryptococcosis. We compared the demographics, clinical features, kinetics of serum cryptococcal antigen (CrAg) titers, anti-GM-CSF AAb concentrations, and treatment outcomes between patients with (case patients) and without (control patients) anti-GM-CSF AAbs. Additional reports from the literature were also reviewed. RESULTS: Twenty-three patients were enrolled, of whom 6 tested positive for anti-GM-CSF AAbs. All case patients with positive fungal cultures (5/5 [100%]) were infected with Cryptococcus gattii VGII. Among them, 3 had exclusively pulmonary involvement, and 1 had only musculoskeletal lesions. Patients with CNS cryptococcosis exhibited a higher serum concentration of anti-GM-CSF AAbs than those with extraneural cryptococcosis. Case patients had higher initial and peak levels of serum CrAg and longer duration of antigenemia compared with the control patients. All case patients who had completed antifungal therapy had favorable outcomes without recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Testing for anti-GM-CSF AAbs should be considered for not only previously healthy patients with disseminated cryptococcosis but also those with unexplained, localized cryptococcosis. Recurrence after completion of antifungal therapy was rare despite the persistence of anti-GM-CSF AAbs.

Use of seroprevalence to guide dengue vaccination plans for older adults in a dengue non-endemic country.

A shift in dengue cases toward the adult population, accompanied by an increased risk of severe cases of dengue in the elderly, has created an important emerging issue in the past decade. To understand the level of past DENV infection among older adults after a large dengue outbreak occurred in southern Taiwan in 2015, we screened 1498 and 2603 serum samples from healthy residents aged ≥ 40 years in Kaohsiung City and Tainan City, respectively, to assess the seroprevalence of anti-DENV IgG in 2016. Seropositive samples were verified to exclude cross-reaction from Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), using DENV/JEV-NS1 indirect IgG ELISA. We further identified viral serotypes and secondary DENV infections among positive samples in the two cities. The overall age-standardized seroprevalence of DENV-IgG among participants was 25.77% in Kaohsiung and 11.40% in Tainan, and the seroprevalence was significantly higher in older age groups of both cities. Although the percentages of secondary DENV infection in Kaohsiung and Tainan were very similar (43.09% and 44.76%, respectively), DENV-1 and DENV-2 spanned a wider age range in Kaohsiung, whereas DENV-2 was dominant in Tainan. As very few studies have obtained the serostatus of DENV infection in older adults and the elderly, this study highlights the need for further investigation into antibody status, as well as the safety and efficacy of dengue vaccination in these older populations.