Vaccines Treatment Options

The purpose of this study is to assess safety and tolerability of escalating doses of a genetically attenuated parasite malaria vaccine (p52-/p36- GAP vaccine) in healthy malaria-naive adults. The study will also assess preliminary efficacy of p52-/p36- GAP vaccine following primary experimental challenge with P. falciparum sporozoites. Lastly, the study will assess immunogenicity of p52-/p36- GAP in malaria-naïve healthy adults and preliminary efficacy of p52-/p36- GAP vaccine following primary experimental re-challenge with P. falciparum sporozoites. Read Less

Pilot Immunotherapy Study of Combination Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA) and T-cell receptor γ alternate reading frame protein (TARP) Peptide With Poly IC-LC Adjuvant in Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA)-A2 (+) Patients With Elevated prostatic specific antigen (PSA) After Initial Definitive Treatment The purpose of the study is to see if the PSMA/TARP proteins in the vaccine, along with the Hiltonol, can arouse and train the immune system to kill the prostate cancer cells. Prostate cancer is the most common cancer and is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in U.S. males. It is curable when it is confined to the prostate (kept from spreading) using surgery or radiation treatments. In some patients the cancer can come back after these treatments. Treatment options for prostate cancer that comes back include procedures or medications which may have significant risks and side effects. Another plan is being looked at that uses the body's immune system to attack prostate cancer cells. A vaccine has been developed that has proteins found in prostate cancer cells. One of the proteins is called PSMA and the other is called TARP. In addition to these proteins, another substance called Poly IC-LC (Hiltonol) will be added to the vaccine to boost its ability to start the immune system. Read Less

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic inflammatory disorder of the gastrointestinal tract which includes Crohn's disease (CD) and ulcerative colitis (UC). A recent epidemiological investigation estimates that nearly 4 million people worldwide are affected and approximately 1.4 million of these cases occur in the United States. IBD can lead to debilitating symptoms, hospitalizations, decreased quality of life, frequent procedures and/or surgery. Treatment options consist of immunosuppressive therapy, such as systemic corticosteroids, immunomodulators (thiopurines and methotrexate) and/or biologics, such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF) agents or an integrin inhibitor, vedolizumab. They can achieve clinical remission and decrease the risk of complications, but also increase the risk for opportunistic infections, including influenza. Multiple studies have shown lower influenza vaccine responses in patients with IBD compared to healthy individuals; IBD patients treated with TNF agents or combination therapy (TNF inhibitors and immunomodulators) are very likely to mount a poor immune response. Influenza serum antibody concentration correlates with protection from infection following vaccination. Therefore, increasing influenza antibody responses in patients with IBD would appear to be critical to improving protection from influenza. A high dose (HD) influenza vaccine containing four times more hemagglutinin was licensed based on its ability to induce higher antibody concentrations compared to standard dose (SD) in adults 65 years or older. Read Less

This study will examine effects of everyday life stress and obesity on immune responses to influenza virus vaccine (the flu shot) during pregnancy. Following vaccination, antibody levels against influenza (the flu) increase. Higher antibody levels indicate better immune protection from influenza. In addition to providing protection from the flu for yourself, being vaccinated during pregnancy may protect your baby from the flu during the first six months of life during which time infants cannot be vaccinated. Our primary goals are to determine whether greater life stress and obesity reduce 1) antibody responses to the flu shot in women and 2) antibody levels in the newborn at the time of delivery. Read Less

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety, tolerance, and immunogenicity of MAS-1-Adjuvanted seasonal inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) (MER4101) with hemagglutinin dose escalation compared to non-adjuvanted comparator IIV standard dose (SD) in healthy adults and high dose (HD) IIV in ambulatory elderly subjects. Hypothesis: Reduced HA dose IIV formulated in MAS-1 adjuvant (MER4101) has been shown under Phase 1A to be safe, tolerable and demonstrated a more robust and durable immune response to IIV over 6 months post-vaccination in healthy young adults 18 - 49 years of age compared to SD IIV. Under phase 1B, the 9 µg/HA dose of IIV in 0.3 mL MAS-1 was safe and well tolerated and immunogenically comparable to or better than 60 µg/HA HD IIV control over 3 to 6 months post-vaccination than HD IIV control. It is anticipated that the increased total dose of 15 µg HA antigen administered concurrently to opposite arms in 2 doses of 7.5 µg/HA IIV in 0.25 mL MAS-1 adjuvant emulsion will be safe, well tolerated, and more immunogenic than 9 µg/HA IIV in MAS-1, and will be more immunogenic when compared to HD IIV control in adults who are 65 years of age and older with the potential to provide better protection throughout the influenza season. 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 this study is to determine differences between the immune responses in healthy and depressed people. Participants will receive the influenza vaccine and their responses will be monitored. This study will recruit 15 healthy and 60 depressed participants. Read Less

This study will evaluate whether administration of two investigational malaria vaccines (257049 and Ad35.CS.01 vaccines) combined in one immunization schedule increases protection against malaria infection as compared to protection induced by the 257049 vaccine alone. The study will also evaluate the safety and the immune response to the new combination of the two experimental malaria vaccines. Read Less

This is a pilot, prospective, randomized, open-label clinical trial. During the study, pregnant women will be randomized (1:1) to receive co-administration of a single intramuscular (IM) 0.5 mL dose of US-licensed inactivated influenza vaccine (IIV) and a single intramuscular (IM) 0.5 mL dose of US-licensed Tetanus toxoid, reduced diphtheria toxoid and acellular pertussis vaccine adsorbed (Tdap) or sequential administration of the vaccines (IIV followed by Tdap \~ 21 days later). Vaccines will be administered by licensed study personnel. Prior Tdap/Td/TT and influenza vaccine history will be verified by medical record review when possible. Injection-site (local) and systemic reaction data will be assessed on vaccination day and during the 7 days following vaccination using either identical web-based or paper diaries, depending on study participant preference. Maternal serum samples will be collected for antibody titers relevant to the Tdap and Influenza at time points that include: prior to vaccination(s), \~21 days post vaccination(s), and at delivery. Additionally, cord blood serum will be analyzed for the same antibody titers. Pregnant women will be followed with comprehensive obstetric and neonatal outcomes obtained from medical record review. Read Less

This study used 3 different formulations of tetravalent CYD dengue vaccine. The primary objective of the study was to evaluate the neutralizing antibody response after 2 doses of two different formulations of tetravalent dengue vaccine administered at Month 0 and Month 6. The secondary objectives were: * To evaluate the safety of the 3 formulations of tetravalent CYD dengue vaccine. * To describe the neutralizing antibody responses to each of the 3 vaccine formulations. * To describe vaccine viremia after the first and second dose of each of the 3 vaccine formulations in a subset of participants. Read Less

This research is being done to understand the effects of certain types of bone marrow transplant (BMT) on the immune system. Your doctors are planning a BMT, using one of your family members as the bone marrow donor, for your cancer. Part of that BMT involves a chemotherapy drug, called Cyclophosphamide (Cytoxan), given after the transplant. This research is being done to understand the effects of Cyclophosphamide on the immune system. Read Less