First human trial of DNA-based bird flu vaccine underway

A breakthrough in vaccine research against the bird flu-

The clinical trial of a bird flu vaccine developed from the virus’ DNA has just entered the human trials phase at the US National Institutes of Health (NIH).

The trial will enrol 45 volunteers between the ages 18 to 60. Thirty will receive vaccine injections and 15 will receive placebos over two months, and followed for a year to assess subjects’ immune response and vaccine safety.

There are several unique advatages about using this kind of vaccine.

First, it does not contain any infection material from the influenza virus itself, but “once inside the body, the DNA instructs human cells to make proteins that act as a vaccine against the virus”.

Second, it can be manufactured in as short as a couple of months, compared to 6-8 months using the traditional egg-based vaccine.

Gary Nadel, Director of Vaccine Research Center of NIAID/NIH -

“We need to determine whether the DNA vaccine can work and can generate a sufficient amount of the right type of immunity to protect against influenza infections. That’s really the purpose of the trial.”

Third, DNA vaccines confers some level of cellular immunity response, compared to only a humoral immune response from a traditional flu vaccine.

When responding to an emerging pandemic virus, for which no precisely matched vaccine would be immediately available, the cellular immunity conferred by a DNA vaccine might be of some help, Nadel said.

Last October, Dr. Nadel and colleagues reported on the efficacy of a DNA vaccine against the 1918 pandemic flu virus.

[Source: CIDRAP]

Tags: DNA-base vaccine, bird flu, H5N1, NIH, NIAID, vaccine research, Gary Nadel