Polymorphism in IFNλ Can Impact the Immune/Inflammatory Response to COVID-19 Vaccination in Older CMV-Seropositive Adults

BACKGROUND: Chronic cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection may favor the development of immunosenescence and inflammation that impair vaccine responses, including COVID-19. In addition, the polymorphism of the interferon-lambda gene (IFNλ) affects COVID-19 immune responses in older adults. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the impact of IFNλ polymorphism (IL28B gene-rs12979860) on the immune/inflammatory response to vaccination with CoronaVac for COVID-19 in older adults who were CMV-seropositive. METHODS: Blood samples from 42 CMV-seropositive older adults (73.7 ± 4.5 years) were collected before and 30 days after immunization with a second dose of the CoronaVac vaccine to evaluate the immune/inflammatory response. RESULTS: At genotyping, 20 subjects were homozygous for the C/C alleles (Allele-1 group), 5 were homozygous for the T/T Alleles (Allele-2 group), and 17 were heterozygous (C/T, Alleles-1/2 group). The Allele-1 group showed higher IgG levels for COVID-19 (p = 0.0269) and intermediate monocyte percentage (p = 0.017), in contrast to a lower non-classical monocyte percentage (p = 0.0141) post-vaccination than pre-vaccination. Also, this group showed that IgG levels for CMV were positively associated with a systemic pro-inflammatory state and senescent T cells (CD4+ and CD8+). The Allele-2 group presented higher IFN-β levels at pre- (p = 0.0248) and post-vaccination (p = 0.0206) than the values in the Allele-1 and Alleles-1/2 groups, respectively. In addition, the Allele-2 and Alleles-1/2 groups showed that IgG levels for COVID-19 were positively associated with a balanced systemic inflammatory state. CONCLUSION: CMV-seropositivity in older adults who had Allele-1 could lead to an unbalanced systemic inflammatory state, which may impair their antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination compared to other volunteer groups.