Serological Responses to SARS-CoV-2 and Their Temporal Pattern in HIV Infected Persons

The aim of the study is to evaluate the health outcomes of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) co-infection in people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA) in Hong Kong, with the specific objectives of (a) describing the clinical and immunological characteristics of coronavirus diseases-2019 (COVID-19) in PLHA; (b) tracking the CD (cluster of differentiation) 4/CD8 lymphocytes changes following SARS-CoV-2 infection; (c) assessing the temporal changes of SARS-CoV-2 serology profile of PLHA following SARS-CoV-2 transmission and vaccination.

This is a descriptive study involving the analyses of data derived from the testing of PLHA and non-infected controls at different time-points, following SARS-CoV-2 infection / COVID-19 or vaccination, in conjunction with routinely collected clinical data in the setting of Hong Kong.

The total number of subjects to be recruited is 800, of which 50 would be HIV/SARS-CoV-2 co-infected persons. In order that their serological responses to SARS-CoV-2 could be interpreted in perspective, 400 HIV uninfected adults would be recruited for comparison. Separately, 400 PLHA and 50 healthy adults who have received SARS-CoV-2 vaccination would be recruited to form another control group.

Blood sampling would be performed upon diagnosis of COVID-19 disease when a SARS-CoV-2 infected person is hospitalized for treatment, or after vaccination. This would be repeated after discharge for hospitalized patients and on follow-up at the following time-points: 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months. Plasma would be separated from the collected blood samples and stored at -20°C before testing. The levels of antibody to SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid and spike protein would be measured using enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method, while surrogate virus neutralization test (sVNT) would be performed to track the changes of sero-protection. .