ScPvs25/ISA51

This study, conducted at Johns Hopkins University Center for Immunization Research in Washington DC, will test the safety and immune response of healthy volunteers to two experimental malaria vaccines. Malaria is a disease of red blood cells caused by a parasite that spreads from person to person by mosquitoes. It affects people of all ages, but is particularly severe in children. Patients may have a high fever, chills and muscle aches. They sometimes can have severe complications that may even result in death.
The vaccines in this study are called "transmission blocking" vaccines. These vaccines stimulate the person's immune system to produce antibodies against malaria. When a mosquito bites a vaccinated person, it ingests some of the person's blood. The antibodies in the ingested blood stop the malaria parasite from developing inside the mosquito. The mosquito would not be able to transmit malaria to other people. PpPfs25/ISA51 (Vaccine A) stimulates production of antibodies against the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum, and ScPvs25/ISA51 (Vaccine B) stimulates antibodies against the malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax. The vaccines also contain a substance called Montanide ISA51, which boosts the immune response to the vaccine.
Healthy volunteers between 18 and 50 years of age may be eligible for this study. Candidates are screened with a medical history, physical examination, and blood and urine tests. Women who are able to become pregnant have a urine pregnancy test before each immunization.
Participants are randomly assigned to receive two injections, spaced 4 months apart, of either Vaccine A or Vaccine B at one of three doses-high, medium, or low. Two subjects in each dose group additionally serve as "controls" and receive only Montanide ISA51 mixed with saline. The vaccine is injected into the muscle of the upper arm. Subjects are monitored for 30 minutes after each injection for possible side effects and take home a diary card to record their temperature and any symptoms that may appear over the next 13 days.
A blood sample is drawn before and on several occasions after each vaccination to check the subject's health and to evaluate the immune response to the vaccine. At 1, 3, 7, 14, and 21 days after each vaccination, participants come to the clinic for a check of vital signs (temperature, pulse, respiration, and blood pressure), brief physical examination, and history of symptoms since the previous visit.