The possibility that vaccination with adenovirus (AdV) vectors increased mucosal T cell activation remains a central hypothesis to explain the potential enhancement of HIV acquisition within the Step trial. Modeling this within rhesus macaques is complicated because human adenoviruses, including human adenovirus type 5 (HAdV-5), are not endogenous to macaques. Here, we tested whether vaccination with a rhesus macaque-derived adenoviral vector (simian adenovirus 7 [SAdV-7]) enhances mucosal T cell activation within rhesus macaques. Following intramuscular SAdV-7 vaccination, we observed a pronounced increase in SAdV-7-specific CD4⁺ T cell responses in peripheral blood and, more dramatically, in rectal mucosa tissue. Vaccination also induced a significant increase in the frequency of activated memory CD4⁺ T cells in SAdV-7- and HAdV-5-vaccinated animals in the rectal mucosa but not in peripheral blood. These fluctuations within the rectal mucosa were also associated with a pronounced decrease in the relative frequency of naive resting CD4⁺ T cells. Together, these results indicate that peripheral vaccination with an AdV vector can increase the activation of mucosal CD4⁺ T cells, potentially providing an experimental model to further evaluate the role of host-vector interactions in increased HIV acquisition after AdV vector vaccination.

IMPORTANCE The possibility that vaccination with a human adenovirus 5 vector increased mucosal T cell activation remains a central hypothesis to explain the potential enhancement of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquisition within the Step trial. In this study, we tested whether vaccination with a rhesus macaque-derived adenoviral vector in rhesus macaques enhances mucosal CD4⁺ T cell activation, the main cell target of simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)/HIV. The results showed that vaccination with an adenoviral vector indeed increases activation of mucosal CD4⁺ T cells and potentially increases susceptibility to SIV infection.