Vaccines Treatment Options in Boston, MA

This is a randomized, double-blind, factorial study to compare the reduction in viral shedding among 6 different combinations of GEN-003, a therapeutic HSV-2 vaccine and Matrix-M2 adjuvant. Secondary objectives of the study include: * Evaluation of the safety and tolerability of GEN-003 in combination with Matrix-M2 compared to placebo. * Comparison of the impact on clinical Herpes Simplex Virus type-2 (HSV-2) disease among the 6 different combinations of GEN-003 antigens and Matrix-M2 adjuvant measured by: * Time to first clinical and/or virologic recurrence, * Proportion of subjects who are recurrence free at 6 and 12 months after the last dose of vaccine, * Lesion rate (percent of days with genital lesions present) during the post-vaccination swabbing periods. * Evaluation of cellular and humoral responses to GEN-003 antigens. Additional objectives include: * Assessment of the correlation between immune responses and change in viral shedding or impact on clinical disease as defined above. * Determination of the recurrence rate in a subset of subjects not receiving suppressive antivirals throughout the study. Eligible subjects will enter a baseline period to collect anogenital swabs for 28 consecutive days prior to randomization. Each subject will receive up to 3 doses at 21 day intervals. Subjects will be followed for safety and immunologic response for 12 months following their last dose. Read Less

This randomized phase II trial studies how well docetaxel and prednisone with or without vaccine therapy works in treating patients with hormone-resistant prostate cancer that has spread to other parts of the body. Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as docetaxel and prednisone, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Vaccines made from an antigen may help the body build an effective immune response to kill tumor cells. It is not yet known whether docetaxel and prednisone are more effective with or without vaccine therapy in treating prostate cancer. Read Less

This was a Phase II, randomized, open-label, multicenter study designed to evaluate the immune response to vaccines after administration of 1000 mg of rituximab in subjects with active rheumatoid arthritis (RA) who were receiving background methotrexate (MTX). Read Less

The prognosis for children and adults with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has improved significantly over the years. Nevertheless, patients who experience disease relapse or induction failure along with patients having unfavorable genetics \[t(4;11) or t(9;22)\] have dismal prognosis. For these patients, novel therapeutic approaches such as immunotherapy are needed. In this clinical trial, investigators evaluate whether it is feasible to make a vaccine from leukemia cells and whether this vaccine enables direct immunity against cancer cells in patients. Read Less

In the United States, Black women are more likely to die of cervical cancer than White women. In developing countries and globally, Haitian immigrant women are more likely to die of cervical cancer than any other women in the world. Studies have shown a disparity in parental acceptance of the HPV vaccine with parents of Black adolescent girls being less likely to accept and comply with HPV immunization schedules than Whites. The objective of this study is to increase HPV immunization rates in Haitian and African American adolescent girls. The investigator's hypothesis is that a validated behavior change mechanism, brief-negotiating interviewing (BNI), will effectively increase the proportion of mothers who give consent for their daughters' HPV vaccine, which will ultimately lead to higher vaccination rates, and increase knowledge of HPV infection and the vaccine in Haitian immigrant and African American mothers. Read Less

Sarcoma patients are at high risk for their cancer to recur even when the sarcoma has been removed surgically or treated with radiation or chemotherapy. The patients in the study will be randomized (like flipping a coin) to receive either a vaccine that is combined with an immune system stimulant or the immune system stimulant alone. The immune system stimulant is called OPT-821 and is an immunological booster. The trivalent vaccine is being developed to teach the patient's immune system to recognize 3 types of sugars called GM2, GD2 and GD3 that are found primarily on the surface of sarcoma cells. If the trivalent vaccine can stimulate the patient's immune system to develop antibodies which recognize and target the GM2, GD2 and GM3 sugars, then the patient's antibodies could attack and kill any remaining sarcoma cells potentially preventing the recurrence of sarcoma. Read Less

Atopic dermatitis, also called eczema, is a disease in which the skin is dry and scaly with severe itching. People who have atopic dermatitis often have complications from skin infections; these can include eczema herpeticum after herpes simplex virus infection or eczema vaccinatum after smallpox vaccination. People with atopic dermatitis may suffer from skin infections and may therefore respond differently to vaccinations. A new flu vaccine which is injected into the skin instead of into muscle has recently been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for vaccination of the general population including patients with atopic dermatitis. This new vaccine has been shown to work as well as the vaccine which is injected into muscle when tested in people without atopic dermatitis. The main purpose of this study is to compare how people with atopic dermatitis respond to this new flu vaccine compared to non-atopic volunteers without atopic dermatitis. The second purpose is to look at how people with atopic dermatitis respond to the new vaccine which is injected into the skin compared to the vaccine which is injected into muscle. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to find out whether Varivax is safe for use in children with kidney transplants and whether it protects children from serious infection. Varivax is a vaccine against varicella zoster virus (VZV), the virus that causes chickenpox (varicella) and shingles (zoster). Healthy children are already receiving Varivax shots to protect them from chickenpox. Few children with kidney transplants have received Varivax because doctors have been concerned that Varivax might cause serious reactions in them. On the other hand, VZV infection can be a life-threatening disease in these children. For this reason, doctors ultimately want to learn whether Varivax might safely prevent VZV infections in children who have had kidney transplants. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to determine whether vaccination with NicVAX will result in a higher continuous abstinence rate than vaccination with placebo in smokers who want to quit smoking. In addition, two different formulations and dosing schedules will be studied, to select the dose and dosing schedule which generates the highest level of anti-nicotine antibodies. The primary study period is 12 months, which was extended by amendment to include up to 2 years of observations. Read Less

The booster phase of the study will evaluate the safety of Hib-MenCY-TT vaccine compared to a control group receiving licensed Hib conjugate vaccine at 12 to 15 months of age. This protocol posting deals with objectives \& outcome measures of the booster phase. The objectives \& outcome measures of the primary phase are presented in a separate protocol posting (NCT number = NCT00345579). No new recruitment will take place during this booster phase of the study. The Protocol Posting has been updated in order to comply with the FDA Amendment Act, Sep 2007. Read Less

Vaccines made from a gene-modified virus may help the body build an effective immune response to kill tumor cells. Biological therapies, such as GM-CSF, may stimulate the immune system in different ways and stop tumor cells from growing. Androgens can cause the growth of prostate cancer cells. Drugs, such as bicalutamide and goserelin, may stop the adrenal glands from making androgens in patients whose tumor cells continue to grow. Giving vaccine therapy together with GM-CSF and, when needed, androgen ablation may be a more effective treatment for prostate cancer. This phase II trial is studying how well giving vaccine therapy together with GM-CSF works in treating patients with prostate cancer that progressed after surgery and/or radiation therapy. Read Less

Pneumococcal disease is a serious bacterial infection that can affect different parts of the body, including the lungs. People with chronic illnesses, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), have a greater risk of developing pneumonia and meningitis as a result of pneumococcal disease. This study will compare the immune response to two types of pneumococcal vaccines in adults with COPD. Read Less