Intestinal helminth infection impairs vaccine-induced T cell responses and protection against SARS-CoV-2 in mice

Abstract

Although vaccines have reduced the burden of COVID-19, their efficacy in helminth infection–endemic areas is not well characterized. We evaluated the impact of infection by Heligmosomoides polygyrus bakeri (Hpb), a murine intestinal roundworm, on the efficacy of an mRNA vaccine targeting the Wuhan-1 spike protein of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in mice. Although immunization generated similar B cell responses in Hpb-infected and uninfected mice, polyfunctional CD4⁺ and CD8⁺ T cell responses were markedly reduced in Hpb-infected mice. Hpb-infected and mRNA-vaccinated mice were protected against the ancestral SARS-CoV-2 strain WA1/2020, but control of lung infection was diminished against an Omicron variant compared with animals immunized without Hpb infection. Helminth-mediated suppression of spike protein–specific CD8⁺ T cell responses occurred independently of signal transducer and activator of transcription 6 (STAT6) signaling, whereas blockade of interleukin-10 (IL-10) rescued vaccine-induced CD8⁺ T cell responses. Together, these data show that, in mice, intestinal helminth infection impaired vaccine-induced T cell responses through an IL-10 pathway, which compromised protection against antigenically drifted SARS-CoV-2 variants.