Humoral Immunity across the SARS-CoV-2 Spike after Sputnik V (Gam-COVID-Vac) Vaccination.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have contributed to attenuating the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic by promoting the development of effective immune responses, thus reducing the spread and severity of the pandemic. A clinical trial with the Sputnik-V vaccine was conducted in Venezuela from December 2020 to July 2021. The aim of this study was to explore the antibody reactivity of vaccinated individuals towards different regions of the spike protein (S). Neutralizing antibody (NAb) activity was assessed using a commercial surrogate assay, detecting NAbs against the receptor-binding domain (RBD), and a plaque reduction neutralization test. NAb levels were correlated with the reactivity of the antibodies to the spike regions over time. The presence of Abs against nucleoprotein was also determined to rule out the effect of exposure to the virus during the clinical trial in the serological response. A high serological reactivity was observed to S and specifically to S1 and the RBD. S2, although recognized with lower intensity by vaccinated individuals, was the subunit exhibiting the highest cross-reactivity in prepandemic sera. This study is in agreement with the high efficacy reported for the Sputnik V vaccine and shows that this vaccine is able to induce an immunity lasting for at least 180 days. The dissection of the Ab reactivity to different regions of S allowed us to identify the relevance of epitopes outside the RBD that are able to induce NAbs. This research may contribute to the understanding of vaccine immunity against SARS-CoV-2, which could contribute to the design of future vaccine strategies.

HIV-1 and GBV-C co-infection in Venezuela.

INTRODUCTION: Co-infection with GB virus C (GBV-C) in patients infected with human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) has been associated with prolonged survival. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of GBV-C infection among HIV-1-infected patients in Venezuela, and to determine the effects of the co-infection on the levels of relevant cytokines. METHODOLOGY: Plasma samples were collected from 270 HIV-1-seronegative and 255 HIV-1-seropositive individuals. GBV-C infection was determined by RT-PCR of the NS5 region and genotyped by sequence analysis of the 5´UTR region. HIV-1 strains were characterized by sequence analysis of pol, vif, env, and nef genes. Selected cytokines were evaluated by ELISA. RESULTS: Ninety-seven of 525 (18.5%) plasma samples tested positive for GBV-C RNA. A significantly higher prevalence of GBV-C was found among HIV-1 patients compared to HIV-1-seronegative individuals (67/255, 26% versus 30/270, 11%; p < 0.001). Statistical difference was observed in the viral load between HIV-1+GBV-C+ and HIV-1+GBV-C- (p = 0.014), although no differences in CD4+ cell counts were found between both groups. TNFα concentration was higher in HIV-1+GBV-C- than in HIV-1+GBV-C+ patients (25.9 pg/mL versus 17.3 pg/mL; p = 0.02); RANTES expression levels were more variable in GBV-C co-infected patients and more frequently elevated in HIV-1 mono-infected patients compared to patients co-infected with GBV-C. CONCLUSIONS: The previously observed beneficial effect of co-infection with HIV-1 and GBV-C on disease progression is complex and might be due in part to a change in the cytokine environment. More studies are required to understand the interaction between both viruses.

Desempeño de estuches comerciales para el diagnóstico serológico de las hepatitis virales B y C en poblaciones yanomami y piaroa del estado Amazonas / Performance of commercial kits for serologic diagnosis of viral hepatitis B and C in yanomami and piaroa populations from Amazonas State

Los virus de hepatitis son una causa importante de morbilidad y mortalidad en la cuenca amazónica. El objetivo de este estudio fue evaluar el desempeño de estuches serológicos para la determinación de marcadores de VHB y VHC en población indígena. Se determinó la presencia de anti-HBc, agsHB, anti-VHC y de genomas virales en sueros de individuos piaroa y yanomami. Más de 50% de las muestras reactivas por un inmunoensayo comercial no resultaron positivas al usar otros estuches. El marcador serológico para el cual se observó una mayor concordancia entre los estuches comerciales fue el anti-HBc, posiblemente porque se trata de un ensayo de inhibición. La concordancia entre los ensayos para agsHB con la positividad de la PCR fue de pobre a moderada, coincidiendo sólo dos de los ensayos con los resultados de la PCR. No existió concordancia entre los distintos ensayos inmunoezimáticos, ni con la presencia del ARN viral para VHC. Las discrepancias inesperadas entre distintos estuches comerciales pudieran deberse a características inherentes a estas poblaciones, tales como múltiples coinfecciones, en especial parasitarias. Estos factores pudiesen estar afectando la especificidad de los estuches diagnósticos, situación observada con menor frecuencia en otras poblaciones venezolanas. Estos estudios refuerzan la importancia de la validación de pruebas serológicas en estas poblaciones, con ensayos confirmatorios y moleculares.

Hepatitis viruses are an important morbility and mortality cause in the Amazon basin. The goal of this study was to evaluate the performance of commercial serologic kits for determination of HVB and HVC markers in indigenous populations. Presence of anti-HBc, HBags, anti-HVC and viral genomes was determined in sera from piaroa and yanomami individuals. Over 50% of the samples reactive with one of the commercial kits were not positive when using other kits. The serologic marker which showed the highest concordance among the commercial kits was anti-HBc, possibly because it is an inhibition assay. Concordance among assays for HBags and PCR positivity varied between poor and moderate; only two of the tests coincided with the PCR results. There was no concordance among the various immunoenzymatic assays, nor in viral RNA presence for HVC. The unexpected discrepancies among the various commercial kits could be due to inherent characteristics of these populations such as multiple co-infections, especially parasitic. These factors could be affecting the specificity of the diagnostic kits, situation less frequently observed in other Venezuelan populations. This study emphasizes the importance of validating serologic tests in these populations, through confirmation and molecular assays.

Prevalence of antiretroviral drug resistance among treatment-naive and treated HIV-infected patients in Venezuela.

An in-house, low-cost method was developed to determine the genotypic resistance of immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates. All 179 Venezuelan isolates analysed belonged to subtype B. Primary drug resistance mutations were found in 11% of 63 treatment-naïve patients. The prevalence of resistance in isolates from 116 HIV-positive patients under antiretroviral treatment was 47% to protease inhibitors, 65% to nucleoside inhibitors and 38% to non-nucleoside inhibitors, respectively. Around 50% of patients in the study harboured viruses with highly reduced susceptibility to the three classical types of drugs after only five years from their initial diagnoses.

Prevalence of antiretroviral drug resistance among treatment-naive and treated HIV-infected patients in Venezuela

An in-house, low-cost method was developed to determine the genotypic resistance of immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) isolates. All 179 Venezuelan isolates analysed belonged to subtype B. Primary drug resistance mutations were found in 11 percent of 63 treatment-naïve patients. The prevalence of resistance in isolates from 116 HIV-positive patients under antiretroviral treatment was 47 percent to protease inhibitors, 65 percent to nucleoside inhibitors and 38 percent to non-nucleoside inhibitors, respectively. Around 50 percent of patients in the study harboured viruses with highly reduced susceptibility to the three classical types of drugs after only five years from their initial diagnoses.