Dose Escalation, Open-Label Clinical Trial to Evaluate Safety, Tolerability and Immunogenicity of a Nipah Virus (NiV) mRNA Vaccine, mRNA-1215, in Healthy Adults

Summary

Background: Nipah virus (NiV) is transmitted from animals to humans, from humans to humans, and through contaminated food. Infected people may have a cough and trouble breathing. Some people may develop serious symptoms, such as brain infection and inflammation, that can lead to death. There are no drugs or vaccines to treat or prevent NiV infection. Objective: To test the safety of an experimental vaccine (mRNA-1215) for NiV. Researchers will also evaluate how participants bodies respond to the vaccine. Eligibility: Healthy, nonpregnant adults aged 18 to 60 years. Design: Participants visited the NIH clinic 13 to 15 times over 14 to 16 months. Participants received 2 doses of the experimental vaccine at 1 month apart. The vaccine was given as a shot into the muscle of the upper arm. Participants stayed in the clinic at least 30 minutes after each vaccination. Participants were given a diary card and a thermometer. They recorded their temperature and any other reactogenicity symptoms for 7 days after each vaccination. During each follow-up visit, 3 to 14 tubes of blood were drawn for research. Some participants underwent an optional procedure called apheresis. A needle is placed into a vein in each arm. Blood is removed through one needle. The blood passed through a machine that separates some of the blood cells. The rest of the blood is returned to the body through another needle. The mRNA-1215 vaccine cannot cause NiV infection.

Timeline

Start

2022-07-11

Primary completion

2024-09-17

Completion

2024-09-17

Publications

• Background Loomis RJ, Stewart-Jones GBE, Tsybovsky Y, Caringal RT, Morabito KM, McLellan JS, Chamberlain AL, Nugent ST, Hutchinson GB, Kueltzo LA, Mascola JR, Graham BS. Structure-Based Design of Nipah Virus Vaccines: A Generalizable Approach to Paramyxovirus Immunogen Development. Front Immunol. 2020 Jun 11;11:842. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.00842. eCollection 2020.
• Background Loomis RJ, DiPiazza AT, Falcone S, Ruckwardt TJ, Morabito KM, Abiona OM, Chang LA, Caringal RT, Presnyak V, Narayanan E, Tsybovsky Y, Nair D, Hutchinson GB, Stewart-Jones GBE, Kueltzo LA, Himansu S, Mascola JR, Carfi A, Graham BS. Chimeric Fusion (F) and Attachment (G) Glycoprotein Antigen Delivery by mRNA as a Candidate Nipah Vaccine. Front Immunol. 2021 Dec 8;12:772864. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.772864. eCollection 2021.
• Ploquin A, Mason RD, Holman LA, Happe M, Widge AT, Novik L, Ortega-Villa AM, Yamshchikov GV, Gordon IJ, Ola A, Arthur A, Costner PJM, Mendoza F, Saunders J, Wang X, Whalen WR, Utoh J, Cunningham J, Loftus LN, Heimann A, Korzeniwsky K, Andrew SF, Lamb E, Shyam Sunder S, Thompson A, McDonald M, Foulds KE, Sullivan NJ, Bahorich J, Coates EE, Loomis RJ, Graham BS, Bok K, Himansu S, Leav B, Dempsey W, Beigel JH, Roederer M, Dropulic LK; VRC 322 study team. A structure-based mRNA vaccine for Nipah virus in healthy adults: a phase 1 trial. Nat Med. 2026 Apr;32(4):1401-1410. doi: 10.1038/s41591-026-04265-1. Epub 2026 Mar 12.
• Watanabe S, Yoshikawa T, Kaku Y, Kurosu T, Fukushi S, Sugimoto S, Nishisaka Y, Fuji H, Marsh G, Maeda K, Ebihara H, Morikawa S, Shimojima M, Saijo M. Construction of a recombinant vaccine expressing Nipah virus glycoprotein using the replicative and highly attenuated vaccinia virus strain LC16m8. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2023 Dec 15;17(12):e0011851. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0011851. eCollection 2023 Dec.

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