Vaccines Treatment Options in Pittsburgh, PA

To determine the reactivity and safety of HIV-1 recombinant envelope glycoprotein gp160. To determine the immunogenicity of gp160. Although recent advances have been made in antiviral therapy against AIDS, there is currently no cure. It is likely that ultimate control of the disease will depend on the development of safe and effective vaccines against HIV. Read Less

To evaluate, in healthy HIV-1 seronegative vaccinia-immune and vaccinia-naive volunteers, the safety and immunogenicity of an HIV-1 candidate vaccine (TBC-3B) consisting of a live recombinant vaccinia virus expressing the env, gag, and pol genes of HIV-1 IIIB strain. To evaluate the potential of boosting with one of a variety of HIV-1 recombinant subunit, peptide, or pseudovirion vaccines, if available, to augment the immune responses of the vaccinees. Antigenic drift, defined as the genetic variation of the HIV-1 envelope gene that results in antigenic variation during natural infection, may confound attempts to achieve protective immunity using a vaccine based solely on HIV-1 envelope proteins. Inclusion of conserved core and polymerase proteins along with envelope protein in a candidate vaccine may address some of the problems with antigenic variability. A prime-boost immunization approach using a novel priming immunogen expressing env, gag, and pol genes of the HIV-1 IIIB strain will be attempted in this study. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to evaluate immunologic response to different types of influenza vaccine among children/adolescents/young adults 4-21 years of age. This is a randomized controlled trial (RCT), that will assess immune response in about 440 participants (about 220 per vaccine arm) pre- and post-vaccination to FluMist (live attenuated influenza vaccine given by nasal administration) and Flucelvax (egg-free cell-culture inactivated influenza vaccine). Read Less

The purposes of the clinical trial are to determine whether the SA4Ag vaccine can prevent postoperative Staphylococcus aureus infections in patients who are undergoing elective spinal fusion surgery, and to evaluate the safety of SA4Ag in patients who are undergoing elective spinal surgery. Read Less

This study will evaluate the feasibility, safety, and efficacy of intradermal vaccination of prostate cancer patients with alpha-type-1-polarized dendritic cells (DC1) loaded with apoptotic allogeneic tumor (LNCap). The study will target men with recurrent prostate cancer, who failed local therapy, have no measurable metastasis, but have a rising PSA with a doubling time of less than 10 months. The selection of this study group enables us to evaluate time to PSA progression, a highly relevant, clinical primary endpoint of efficacy in this two arm study. In order to facilitate infiltration of vaccination-induced T cells into tumor site(s) and to reduce tumor-specific tolerance, subjects will receive the vaccine in combination with limited androgen ablation (AA) with a LHRH analogue for 3 months. Subjects will be randomly assigned to one of two cohorts. In cohort A subjects will be first treated with limited AA alone for 3 months, and at the time of PSA relapse (PSA ≥ 1 ng/dL) will receive the DC vaccine in conjunction with AA. In cohort B, the sequence of treatment will be reversed. Efficacy will be estimated as the within-subject difference in time to PSA relapse following the combination treatment as compared to the AA alone, thus, each subject will serve as his own control. All subjects will commence the DC1-based vaccination 2 weeks prior to treatment with the LHRH analogue. Each subject will receive 1 intradermal (i.d.) dose of the vaccine at weeks 1, 5, 9, and 13 for a total of 4 doses. Additional courses of vaccination may be administered to subjects without evidence of disease progression every 3 months (±1 month) for up to 12 months depending on the number of doses originally produced and available after the 4 intended protocol doses. All doses of the vaccine will be administered intradermally (i.d.). Read Less

The purpose of this study is to evaluate immunologic response to different types of influenza vaccine among children/adolescents/young adults 4-20 years of age. This is a randomized controlled trial (RCT), that will assess immune response in 120 participants (60 per vaccine arm) pre- and post-vaccination to Flucelvax (egg-free inactivated flu shot) and Fluzone (egg-based inactivated flu shot). Read Less

This is a pilot vaccine study in adults with either WHO grade II astrocytoma, oligoastrocytoma or oligodendroglioma. The purpose of this study is test the safety and efficacy of an experimental tumor vaccine made from peptides and Montanide ISA-51 in combination with the study drug Poly-ICLC. Poly-ICLC, manufactured by Oncovir, Inc., has already been received and generally well tolerated by subjects in earlier studies and has been shown to decrease the size of brain tumors in some cases. The immunological and safety data will be used to decide whether a larger study of clinical efficacy is warranted in each of two patient cohorts. Read Less

Current therapeutic approaches available for patients with advanced-stage melanoma remain inadequate, and existing approaches including those involving immunotherapy with cytokines and/or targeted strategies have resulted in disappointingly low rates of durable and complete responses. Correcting immune dysfunction in advanced-stage melanoma patients using tyrosine-kinase inhibitor (TKI) such as dasatinib is proposed to relicense the patient's immune system to respond optimally to specific immunization. The integration of antigens expressed by tumor-associated blood vessel cells provides a means to selectively target the genetically-/antigenically-heterogeneous population of tumor cells in the advanced-stage melanoma patient. This is a single-center, prospective randomized Phase 2 trial evaluating the activity, safety and immune effects of dasatinib given in combination with an autologous type-1 polarized Dendritic Cell (αDC1) vaccine. The current trial represents a randomized Phase 2 study to determine the activity and safety of intradermal (id) administration of αDC1s loaded with a mixture of six TBVA-derived peptides at the time of, or immediately after, an initial therapy cycle with the TKI dasatinib. Dasatinib will be administered at the standard dose and schedule recommended by the FDA (70 mg BID). The autologous type-I DC vaccine will be administered either prior to, or concomitant with, the initiation of dasatinib administration. All patients will receive dasatinib at a starting dose of 70 mg twice daily by mouth in the outpatient setting approximately every 12 hours, at the same time each day. The DC vaccine will be administered by a single intradermal injection of approximately 10e7 cells, with all the DCs being administered on days 1 and 15 of every cycle on an outpatient basis in the University of Pittsburgh Clinical and Translational Research Center (UPCI-CTRC). Patients on Arm A will start dasatinib administration on cycle 2, day 1 (week 5), while those patients in Arm B will start dasatinib administration on cycle 1, day 1 (week 1). Men and women at least 18 years of age must be HLA-A2+ and have histologically confirmed melanoma that is metastatic (Stage IV) or unresectable Stage IIIB/C and for which standard curative or palliative measures do not exist or are no longer effective. Note: The outcome measures and time frames (previously) described in the PRS protocol record have been revised and articulated in the results section, to more accurately describe and represent the stated per-protocol investigations and endpoints, quantitatively. Read Less

The purpose of the study is to evaluate the safety, immunogenicity and lot-to-lot consistency of an investigational hepatitis B virus vaccine, HEPLISAV™, in healthy adults 40 to 70 years of age Read Less

Main goal of this study is to compare the occurrence of serious adverse events (SAEs) between the herpes simplex (gD2-AS04) vaccine group and the Saline control group throughout the study period (up to month 12). The Protocol Posting has been updated in order to comply with the FDA Amendment Act, Sep 2007. Read Less

The purpose of the study is to characterize the immunogenicity \& safety of a booster dose of GSK Biologicals' meningococcal vaccine 134612 given at 12-15 months of age or at 15-18 months of age (co-administered with Infanrix®) in healthy toddlers primed with GSK Biological's Hib-meningococcal vaccine 792014. This study is single-blinded for the primary phase and open-label for the booster phase. Read Less

This study is evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of GSK Biologicals' Hib-MenCY-TT vaccine compared to a control group receiving licensed Hib conjugate vaccine, each administered at 2, 4, and 6 months of age, and compared to licensed meningococcal serogroups A, C, Y, and W-135 polysaccharide vaccine administered at 3 to 5 years of age. The safety and immunogenicity of a booster dose of Hib-MenCY-TT vaccine will be compared to a booster dose of licensed Hib conjugate vaccine, each administered at 12 to 15 months of age. The group primed with the Hib conjugate vaccine will re-randomized at 12-15 months of age to receive a booster dose of Hib-MenCY-TT or a booster dose of the Hib conjugate vaccine. Read Less