Volume 225, Issue 7, 1 April 2022

Individuals on immunosuppression for various indications have impaired neutralizing, binding, and nonneutralizing antibody responses and reduced T-cell activity in response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccination compared to immunocompetent controls. This suggests that standard vaccination may not result in protective immunity in this population.

COVID-19 mRNA vaccines induce weaker antibody responses in older adults. Age was a significant predictor of spike binding antibody concentration and SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing activity after correcting for participant demographics, including chronic health conditions.

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines differ in immunogenicity (by multiple humoral and T-cell measures): mRNA1273 induced the strongest responses following by BNT162b2; Ad26.COV2.S induced weak responses. Differences in immunogenicity predict population-level effectiveness against infection, hospitalization, or death (mRNA1273 > bnt162b2 > Ad26.COV2.S).

By developing quantitative image analysis workflows, we revealed that women taking the hormonal contraceptive depot medroxyprogesterone acetate had a less robust ectocervical epithelium and a more superficial distribution of HIV target cells. This could confer a higher risk of HIV infection.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–infected women who started combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) during pregnancy experienced reduced T-cell immune activation but not to levels similar to those in pregnant cART-experienced HIV-infected or HIV-uninfected women. The effect of maternal immune activation during early life on infant immunity remains undefined.

The longitudinal analysis of full-length proviruses within memory CD4⁺ T-cell subsets demonstrates that the biological processes of activation, differentiation, and proliferation influence the dynamics of the HIV reservoir, and must be considered during the development of any immune intervention.

In this large cohort study of 8500 middle- to early older-aged, predominantly white, UK women and men we found no significant association between human cytomegalovirus past exposure and risk of incident cardiovascular disease, ischemic heart disease, or stroke.

Maternal serum immunoglobulin antibody titers directed to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) pre-F glycoprotein were lower in infants less than 3 months of age hospitalized with RSV bronchiolitis than in maternal serum samples of age-matched control infants who were not hospitalized.

This historical, observational cohort study demonstrates that respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) hospitalizations and all-cause bronchiolitis hospitalizations and their severity increased among otherwise healthy 29–34 weeks’ gestational age infants aged <6 months in the 2014–2017 vs 2010–2014 RSV seasons.

Lack of a cell culture system for human noroviruses has impacted the study of their antigenic relationships in vivo. Using human intestinal enteroids, we show that 4 viruses, representing 2 norovirus genotypes, are neutralized in a genotype-specific manner.

An individual patient meta-analysis was performed on the gametocytocidal and transmission-blocking activities of single-dose primaquine. Gametocyte persistence and infectivity depended on the artemisinin-combination therapy that primaquine was administered with. Primaquine’s transmission-blocking effects were achieved at 0.25 mg/kg.

A novel bioinformatics pipeline was created to select and characterize the most diverse and tractable short-range sequences (microhaplotypes) in the Plasmodium falciparum genome, followed by a robust polymerase chain reaction–based multiplexing method to simultaneously amplify and sequence these microhaplotypes.

Blockage of invasion in long-term culture and potential enhanced removal of parasitized erythrocytes were observed for the first time in erythrocytes from Viangchan and Mahidol G6PD-deficient individuals.

Protective immunity to Bordetella pertussis requires interferon gamma (IFN-γ) production. IFN-γ is produced by natural killer (NK) cells after exposure to intact bacteria, but not soluble antigens. IFN-γ promotes the production of CXCL9-11, resulting in the recruitment of NK and T cells.

The presence and concentrations of bacterial vaginosis-associated bacteria detected in the mouth, anus, labia, and vagina of women without bacterial vaginosis predict those women who subsequently develop BV.

No studies have explored the association between pneumococcal nasopharyngeal density and severe pneumonia using the World Health Organization 2013 definition. Among children with acute respiratory infections and pneumococcal carriage, pneumococcal carriage density was positively associated with severe pneumonia in Laos.

Myeloid liver kinase B1 (LKB1) depletion reduces alveolar macrophages and impairs host defense against Klebsiella pneumoniae in the lung. LKB1 deficiency in alveolar macrophages does not affect glucose metabolism or immune functions, such as tumor necrosis factor production or phagocytosis.