The Effects of GLA on Human Volunteers

Summary

The advent of vaccines contributed to major improvements in human morbidity and mortality due to infectious diseases such as polio, small pox, measles and diphtheria. However infectious diseases like HIV, malaria and tuberculosis continue to be major causes of death worldwide and conventional vaccine strategies have not been successful. The fundamental problem is that current protein based vaccines do not elicit the necessary T-cell immunity. Experimentally, adjuvants can be given in conjunction with a vaccine to activate and mature the dendritic cell (DC), which can then direct an immune response to enhance T-cell immunity. One family of potential adjuvants functions through the activation of Toll-like receptors (TLR) on the DC. Major gaps exist in our understanding of adjuvant effects in humans. We hypothesize that a synthetic adjuvant directed to activate TLR4 (GLA) will safely stimulate the innate immune system when administered subcutaneously (SC) or intramuscularly (IM). Importantly, in contrast to other adjuvant trials in which adjuvant is combined with an antigen or vaccine, GLA will be tested in isolation. This is because we anticipate the future administration of GLA with our dendritic cell targeted HIV vaccine. A DC-targeted vaccine cannot be given without an immune stimulating adjuvant due to potential risk of inducing immune tolerance. Therefore, in order to understand the specific contributions of GLA versus the DC-targeted vaccine, we need to understand the GLA effects in isolation. The safety and tolerability of 2 different formulations of GLA (GLA-SE vs. GLA-AF) administered by 3 different routes (SC, ID, IM) will be the major focus of this trial. The second focus will be characterizing the innate immune response by assessing systemic cytokine and chemokine levels and determining global gene regulation following GLA stimulation. The third focus will be on the cellular effects of GLA, specifically on blood monocytes and dendritic cells. Monocytes may represent a large pool of inducible potent DC (monocyte-derived DC), however these cells have not been well characterized in humans. We will investigate the effects of GLA stimulation on the peripheral blood monocyte subsets that might give rise to monocyte-derived DC.

Conditions

• Healthy Volunteers

Interventions

DRUG

GLA-AF

GLA-AF contains GLA, a new synthetic lipid A molecule that combines 6 acyl chains with a single phosphorylation site. GLA-AF contains GLA in an aqueous solution. One 2 mcg injection will be given per patient in the upper arm, each randomized to either subcutaneous or intramuscular routes.

DRUG

GLA-SE

GLA-SE contains GLA, a new synthetic lipid A molecule that combines 6 acyl chains with a single phosphorylation site. GLA-SE contains GLA in a squalene oil emulsion. One 2 mcg injection will be given per patient in the upper arm, each randomized to either subcutaneous or intramuscular routes.

OTHER

Squalene

Squalene is a natural organic compound obtained from shark liver oil. In this study, it is used to solubilize GLA in the GLA-SE formulation. Patients randomized to receive the squalene will be given one 2mcg injection of the squalene oil in the upper arm, each patient randomized further to either subcutaneous or intramuscular routes.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• IDRI Corporation

  collaborator UNKNOWN

• Immune Design, a subsidiary of Merck & Co., Inc. (Rahway, New Jersey USA)

  collaborator INDUSTRY

• Rockefeller University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Marina Caskey, MD · Instructor in Clinical Investigation

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

60 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2011-07-31

Primary Completion

2013-03-31

Completion

2013-03-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations