Study of Controlled Human Malaria Infections to Evaluate Protection After Intravenous or Intramuscular Administration of PfSPZ Vaccine in Malaria-Naive Adults

Summary

Background: \- People bitten by mosquitoes carrying weakened malaria parasites could fight off the disease if later exposed to normal malaria parasites. Scientists have discovered how to make the weakened parasites, which can be injected by the PfSPZ vaccine. Researchers want to see if people who receive the vaccine get malaria after being bitten in a controlled setting (a controlled human malaria infection, CHMI). Objective: \- To see if the PfSPZ malaria vaccine is safe and prevents malaria in a controlled setting. Eligibility: \- Healthy adults 18 45 years old. Design: * Participants will be screened with medical history, physical exam, blood and lab tests, and EKG. * Participants will be split into 8 groups, to be in the study for 3 12 months. * Participants will receive 3 5 vaccinations, injected by a needle in an arm vein or muscle. * Participants will keep a health diary and be contacted by phone. * For CHMI, a cup with mosquitoes carrying malaria is applied to participants arm for 5 minutes. Five mosquitoes at a time are used, until 5 have bitten. Some groups will be exposed to malaria more than once. * After CHMI, participants will visit the clinic very frequently (including daily visits for 12 days) for 28 days. * Blood will be drawn at most visits, from 1 to 20 tubes. Physical exam and medical history may also be repeated * Participants who develop malaria will be treated immediately at the clinic. Standard treatment takes 72 hours. Malaria symptoms may last up to 3 days.

Timeline

Start

2013-12-12

Primary completion

2015-05-01

Completion

2016-09-08

Publications

• Background Nussenzweig RS, Vanderberg J, Most H, Orton C. Protective immunity produced by the injection of x-irradiated sporozoites of plasmodium berghei. Nature. 1967 Oct 14;216(5111):160-2. doi: 10.1038/216160a0. No abstract available.
• Background Seder RA, Chang LJ, Enama ME, Zephir KL, Sarwar UN, Gordon IJ, Holman LA, James ER, Billingsley PF, Gunasekera A, Richman A, Chakravarty S, Manoj A, Velmurugan S, Li M, Ruben AJ, Li T, Eappen AG, Stafford RE, Plummer SH, Hendel CS, Novik L, Costner PJ, Mendoza FH, Saunders JG, Nason MC, Richardson JH, Murphy J, Davidson SA, Richie TL, Sedegah M, Sutamihardja A, Fahle GA, Lyke KE, Laurens MB, Roederer M, Tewari K, Epstein JE, Sim BK, Ledgerwood JE, Graham BS, Hoffman SL; VRC 312 Study Team. Protection against malaria by intravenous immunization with a nonreplicating sporozoite vaccine. Science. 2013 Sep 20;341(6152):1359-65. doi: 10.1126/science.1241800. Epub 2013 Aug 8.
• Background Epstein JE, Tewari K, Lyke KE, Sim BK, Billingsley PF, Laurens MB, Gunasekera A, Chakravarty S, James ER, Sedegah M, Richman A, Velmurugan S, Reyes S, Li M, Tucker K, Ahumada A, Ruben AJ, Li T, Stafford R, Eappen AG, Tamminga C, Bennett JW, Ockenhouse CF, Murphy JR, Komisar J, Thomas N, Loyevsky M, Birkett A, Plowe CV, Loucq C, Edelman R, Richie TL, Seder RA, Hoffman SL. Live attenuated malaria vaccine designed to protect through hepatic CD8(+) T cell immunity. Science. 2011 Oct 28;334(6055):475-80. doi: 10.1126/science.1211548. Epub 2011 Sep 8.

Drugs

Indications