# mRNA vaccine responses in PLWH

> **NIH NIH R21** · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · 2022 · $245,625

## Abstract

Project Summary
Two mRNA COVID vaccines that have greater than 90% efficacy in healthy donors have
been developed. However the efficacy of these vaccines in PLWH is unknown. PLWH
have had suboptimal responses to some prior vaccines potentially because they make
limited naïve T cell responses. We and others have shown T cell cross-recognition of
spike proteins from SARS-CoV-2 and the common cold coronavirus and demonstrated
that these cross-reactive responses are less effective against SARS-CoV-2 than mono-
reactive responses. We hypothesize that cross-reactive memory responses will
contribute more towards the total SARS-CoV-2 responses in PLWH than in healthy
donors and this will result in less effective responses to the mRNA vaccines. We will test
this hypothesis by comparing CD4+ T cell and antibody responses in vaccinated healthy
donors and PLWH. Our results will have major implications for future policies regarding
booster shots for PLWH and the general population

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10402541
- **Project number:** 1R21AI167705-01
- **Recipient organization:** JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** JOEL N BLANKSON
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $245,625
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-08-22 → 2024-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10402541

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10402541, mRNA vaccine responses in PLWH (1R21AI167705-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10402541. Licensed CC0.

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