Publications by authors named "Gregory Poland"

Objectives: We estimated vaccine effectiveness (VE) against SARS-CoV-2 infection among a statewide cohort of people with HIV (PWH) and compared the estimates with a matched cohort of people without HIV (PWoH) in South Carolina (SC), USA.

Methods: A population-based cohort was retrieved from statewide electronic health records between January 2, 2021, and April 14, 2022, during which several variants were circulating in SC (i.e.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Older adults (65+) often have weaker responses to flu vaccines, leading to the recommendation of special vaccines like MF59-adjuvanted (MF59Flu) and high-dose (HDFlu) vaccines for this age group in the U.S.
  • - A study analyzed gene expression in CD4 T cells from 234 older vaccine recipients before and after vaccination, finding numerous differentially expressed genes (DEGs) that varied between MF59Flu and HDFlu recipients.
  • - Interestingly, the identified DEGs did not significantly correlate with immune responses against the flu virus, indicating that other factors might be at play when it comes to flu immunity in older adults.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: This study aims to identify COVID-19 breakthrough infections among people with HIV (PWH) across different phases of the pandemic and explore whether differential immune dysfunctions are associated with breakthrough infections.

Design And Methods: This retrospective population-based cohort study used data from an integrated electronic health record (EHR) database in South Carolina (SC). Breakthrough infection was defined as the first COVID-19 diagnosis documented in the state agency after the date an individual was fully vaccinated (ie, 2 doses of Pfizer/BNT162b2 or Moderna/mRNA-1273, or 1 dose of Janssen/Ad26.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • T cell responses are crucial for measles immunity, helping in both antibody production and the elimination of infected cells.
  • The study identified 13 measles-derived peptides that trigger immune responses in a mouse model, particularly focusing on four that showed strong immunogenicity.
  • A vaccine using these four peptides significantly reduced illness and weight loss in mice after exposure to the measles virus, highlighting the potential for peptide-based vaccines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

B cell transcriptomic signatures hold promise for the early prediction of vaccine-induced humoral immunity and vaccine protective efficacy. We performed a longitudinal study in 232 healthy adult participants before/after a 3 dose of MMR (MMR3) vaccine. We assessed baseline and early transcriptional patterns in purified B cells and their association with measles-specific humoral immunity after MMR vaccination using two analytical methods ("per gene" linear models and joint analysis).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In this report, we provide a follow-up analysis of a previously published genome-wide association study of host genetic variants associated with inter-individual variations in cellular immune responses to mumps vaccine. Here we report the results of a polygenic score (PGS) analysis showing how common variants can predict mumps vaccine response. We found higher PGS for IFNγ, IL-2, and TNFα were predictive of higher post-vaccine IFNγ (p-value = 2e-6), IL-2 (p = 2e-7), and TNFα (p = 0.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Vaccination is one of the most important public health tools in the prevention of infectious diseases, and in preserving life and health. While vaccines are generally safe and usually produce only transient side effects, other types of vaccine-associated adverse events do occur. Some of these reactions are immediate and easily observable or measurable, such as swelling at the injection site or a transient fever.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: The reduced effectiveness of standard-dose influenza vaccines in persons ≥65 years of age led to the preferential recommendation to use high-dose (HDFlu) or MF59-adjuvanted (MF59Flu) vaccines for this age group. Sleep is an important modulator of immune responses to vaccines and poor sleep health is common in older adults. However, potential effects of poor sleep health on immune responses to influenza vaccination in older adults remain largely unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

SARS-CoV-2 remains a major global public health concern. Antibody waning and immune escape variant emergence necessitate the development of next generation vaccines that induce cross-reactive durable immune responses. T cell responses to SARS-CoV-2 demonstrate higher conservation, antigenic breadth, and longevity than antibody responses.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine has been widely used in the US, but measles and mumps outbreaks remain a public health issue in the US and elsewhere, even among individuals immunized with 2 doses of the vaccine. Immune correlates of vaccine-elicited protection against disease are typically assessed with serum antibody assays, but in some cases, these correlates fail to predict immunity, with the complexity and heterogeneity of the immune response. We used multicolor flow cytometry to evaluate changes in the frequency of peripheral T and B cell subsets in 82 study participants after receipt of a third dose of the M--R vaccine (Merck & Co, Inc).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objectives: This study aims to characterize and compare COVID-19 breakthrough infections between people living with and without HIV across different phases of the pandemic.

Methods: Using statewide HIV cohort data, the study population included adult residents in South Carolina (SC) (>18 years old) who were fully vaccinated between January 02, 2021 and April 14, 2022 when Alpha, Delta, and Omicron variants were circulating in SC. We used the Cox proportional hazard model to investigate the association between HIV infection and breakthrough infection, adjusting for relevant covariates.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: We have previously described genetic polymorphisms in candidate genes that are associated with inter-individual variations in antibody responses to mumps vaccination. To expand upon our previous work, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) to discover host genetic variants associated with mumps vaccine-induced cellular immune responses.

Methods: We performed a GWAS of mumps-specific immune response outcomes (11 secreted cytokines/chemokines) in a cohort of 1,406 subjects.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: In the vaccine era, individuals receive multiple vaccines in their lifetime. Host gene expression in response to antigenic stimulation is usually virus-specific; however, identifying shared pathways of host response across a wide spectrum of vaccine pathogens can shed light on the molecular mechanisms/components which can be targeted for the development of broad/universal therapeutics and vaccines.

Method: We isolated PBMCs, monocytes, B cells, and CD8 T cells from the peripheral blood of healthy donors, who received both seasonal influenza vaccine (within <1 year) and smallpox vaccine (within 1 - 4 years).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF