Immunization With HIV-1 Peptides in Adjuvant for Treatment of Patients With Chronic HIV-infection

This study is enrolling participants by invitation only.
Sponsor:
Collaborators:
Statens Serum Institut
Rigshospitalet, Denmark
Ministry of the Interior and Health, Denmark
Information provided by:
Hvidovre University Hospital
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
NCT01009762
First received: November 6, 2009
Last updated: November 12, 2009
Last verified: November 2009
  Purpose

Treatment: Immunization with peptide-mix of 17 CD8 T cell minimal epitopes and 3 CD4 T cell epitopes and a new adjuvant (CAF01). The vaccine should induce cellular immunity against HIV-1.

Target group: Untreated healthy individuals with chronic HIV-1 infection not in antiretroviral treatment.

Purpose: The primary purpose is to evaluate tolerability and safety of the vaccine.

The secondary purpose is to evaluate the clinical effect of the vaccination treatment as measured by induction of new immunity, lowering of viral load, induction of escape mutations in the virus and improvement in the patient CD4 lymphocyte blood counts.

Design: The experiment is designed as a single-blinded, placebo-controlled phase 1 clinical trial in HIV-1 infected individuals in Denmark.

Numbers of individuals: 20 fully evaluable HIV-1-infected patients should enter the study (15 vaccine treated and 5 placebo(saline) treated controls).

The hypothesis is that a redirection of CTL immunity to selected relatively immune silent (subdominant) but conserved targets on multiple sites in HIV-1 could provide a better immune control of the virus replication. This could result in lowering of viral load thereby prolonging the time to antiretroviral therapy.


Condition Intervention Phase
HIV Infections
Biological: peptide vaccine (AFO-18)
Phase 1

Study Type: Interventional
Study Design: Allocation: Randomized
Endpoint Classification: Safety/Efficacy Study
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: Single Blind (Subject)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
Official Title: Immunization With HIV-1 Peptides in Adjuvant for Treatment of Patients With

Resource links provided by NLM:


Further study details as provided by Hvidovre University Hospital:

Primary Outcome Measures:
  • Primary end point: Maximum of 3 patients out of the 15 vaccinated showing treatment related side effects (DLT = reaction 3 or more) related to the treatment. [ Time Frame: up to 6 months after end of treatment ] [ Designated as safety issue: Yes ]

Secondary Outcome Measures:
  • Induction of T-CD8 cell mediated immunity against one or more of the vaccine epitopes in half or more of the patients receiving the vaccine. [ Time Frame: 10-14 days after last immunisation ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  • Significant lowering of RNA or DNA viral load in at last half of the patients who responded with a new immun response on epitopes present in their virus 3 and/or 6 months after treatment stop and/or appearance of escape mutations in their virus RNA [ Time Frame: up to 6 months after treatment stop ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]

Estimated Enrollment: 20
Study Start Date: September 2009
Estimated Study Completion Date: December 2010
Estimated Primary Completion Date: July 2010 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
Arms Assigned Interventions
Placebo Comparator: Saline
Sterile saline for injection is used as placebo arm. It is administered i.m. in the same way as for the active vaccine, week 0, 2, 4, 8.
Biological: peptide vaccine (AFO-18)
18 Peptides (250 ug of each peptide) in Adjuvant CAF01 (= 625/125 ug DDA/TDB), i.m. injection week 0, 2, 4, 8.
Other Names:
  • DDA/TDB
  • peptides
Active Comparator: AFO-18 vaccinated
Patients receiving the experimental therapeutic vaccine
Biological: peptide vaccine (AFO-18)
18 Peptides (250 ug of each peptide) in Adjuvant CAF01 (= 625/125 ug DDA/TDB), i.m. injection week 0, 2, 4, 8.
Other Names:
  • DDA/TDB
  • peptides

Detailed Description:

The HIV-1 vaccine in this trial is designed to prevent disease in healthy already HIV-1 infected individuals not in anti-retroviral treatment by inducing a strong cellular immune response against several immune subdominant selected target points in the patient's HIV-1 virus. The vaccine treatment is not harmful but could potentially lower viral load and thus delay the time to AIDS disease or to the need of antiviral medicine and thereby limit the spread of HIV-1 in the population.

The patient's cellular immune response can only partly control the HIV-1 infection and eventually leads to a destruction of the immune system, opportunistic infections, and ultimately death. Normally the natural HIV-1 infection does not provide adequate immunity and vaccines must therefore induce a more potent and broader and more rationally directed immunity. Individuals that have this kind of strong immunity have lower viral-load and live longer. The vaccine in this study is designed to develop this kind of potent cellular immunity against HIV-1, so the virus is controlled better by the individual and spread in the population is limited.

This vaccine is designed to match most individual's cellular immune system (HLA tissue types) and several conserved target points in the individual's own HIV-1 virus. On the basis of our previous vaccine trial of HIV vaccination of HIV-infected individuals in Denmark and years of research, we have been able to develop this HIV-1 vaccine. Our vaccine contains 18 peptides (15 MHC-I restricted CD8-t-cell epitopes and 3 MHC II restricted CD4 T-cell epitopes) in a mix and should induce cellular immune responses to several conserved target points identified in HIV-1. Our vaccine is composed of 18 peptides in a lipid based adjuvant (CAF01) composed of DDA and TDB and is deemed safe and the technique is simple and also called 'peptide vaccination'. This and similar techniques have been tried in several studies against virus diseases around the world.

We want to know to which degree it is possible to immunize already HIV¬ 1 infected individuals to prolong the healthy period and prevent disease before initiation of antiviral medicine or other treatments of AIDS. In the present immunization study, healthy HIV-1 infected individuals not in treatment in Denmark will be invited to participate. This vaccine study will examine the immune responses and effects of the vaccine on these healthy HIV-1-infected individuals. The first purpose is first to determine if there are any side-effects of the vaccine. From several trials on animals and humans and in our own recent HIV vaccination trial on HIV-1 infected individuals in Denmark, with very similar vaccine techniques (peptides in autologous DC cells) no serious side-effects has been observed. The second purpose is to examine if the vaccine induces the expected immune responses in HIV-1 infected individuals and how it enforces and supplements the already existing 'own' immune response of the infected individual. Finally, a clinical beneficial effect (on viral load and CD4 counts) of our vaccine will be evaluated.

  Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study:   18 Years to 60 Years
Genders Eligible for Study:   Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers:   No
Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. HIV-1 seropositive with measurable viral load >10e3 copies/ml and CD4+ T-cell count >400 CD4+ cells/µl.
  2. Not in Antiretroviral Therapy (>1 year).
  3. Male or female with age between 18 and 60 years, where females are not breastfeeding, are not pregnant and use contraception until at least 3 months after end of vaccinations.
  4. Normal values for the area of liver and kidney enzymes, blood cell count with differential counts (e.g. white blood cells, lymphocytes, platelets/thrombocytes) and Hemoglobin
  5. Expected to follow the instructions.
  6. Written informed consent after oral and written information.

Exclusion criteria

  1. Vaccinated with other experimental vaccines within 3 months before the first vaccination.
  2. Treated with immune modulating medicine within 3 month before the first immunization.
  3. Other significant active chronic infectious diseases likely to influence the HIV-1 infection, like HBV, HCV
  4. Significant medical disease as judged by the investigators, for example severe asthma/COLD, badly regulated heart disease, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.
  5. Severe allergy or earlier anaphylactic reactions.
  6. Active autoimmune diseases.
  7. Simultaneous treatment with other experimental drugs.
  8. Laboratory parameters outside the 'normal' range for the area and which are considered clinically significant.
  9. Pregnancy and/or brest feeding
  Contacts and Locations
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01009762

Locations
Denmark
Department Infectious Diseases, Hvidovre university hospital
Copenhagen, Denmark, DK-2650
Sponsors and Collaborators
Hvidovre University Hospital
Statens Serum Institut
Rigshospitalet, Denmark
Ministry of the Interior and Health, Denmark
Investigators
Principal Investigator: Gitte Kronborg, MD Hvidovre University Hospital
Study Director: Anders Fomsgaard, MD Statens Serum Institut
Study Chair: Jan Gerstoft, MD University Hospital Copenhagen
  More Information

Additional Information:
Publications:
Additional publications automatically indexed to this study by ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier (NCT Number):
Responsible Party: Gitte Kronborg, Hvidovre University Hospital
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01009762     History of Changes
Other Study ID Numbers: EudraCT 2008-002980-15
Study First Received: November 6, 2009
Last Updated: November 12, 2009
Health Authority: Denmark: Danish Medicines Agency
Denmark: Ethics Committee

Keywords provided by Hvidovre University Hospital:
VACCINE
THERAPY
CELLULAR IMMUNITY
IMMUNITY

Additional relevant MeSH terms:
HIV Infections
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases
Slow Virus Diseases
Adjuvants, Immunologic
Immunologic Factors
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Pharmacologic Actions

ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on May 19, 2013