VAC069: A Study of Blood-stage Controlled Human P. Vivax Infection

Malaria, Vivax Clinical Trial

Official title: VAC069: A Clinical Study to Assess the Safety and Feasibility of Controlled Blood-stage Plasmodium Vivax Human Malaria Infection Through Experimental Inoculation of Cryopreserved Infected Erythrocytes in Healthy Malaria-naïve UK Adults

Status Active, not recruiting

Clinical Trial Summary

This is a clinical study to assess the safety and feasibility of Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) controlled blood-stage human malaria infection (CHMI), by inoculation using a newly created source of P. vivax malaria-infected blood.

25 healthy malaria-naïve UK volunteers, aged 18 - 50, will be recruited through the five phases of the study at the CCVTM, Oxford. Volunteers will undergo primary, secondary and tertiary P. vivax blood-stage challenges, which will be induced by injection of P. vivax infected blood. After the first challenge, the optimal dose for blood-stage CHMI will be selected and used for the second and third challenges. Through each challenge period, volunteers will have blood taken at regular intervals to measure the parasite growth, quantify the sexual parasite forms and assess the immune response to P. vivax infection. Transmission of P. vivax from volunteers to the Anopheline mosquito vectors will also be assessed.

In each challenge, following diagnosis, volunteers will be treated with a standard antimalarial course of oral artemether-lumefantrine (Riamet), given over 60 hours. Volunteers who take part in this study will be involved in the trial for approximately 2 years, receiving each of the three challenges at intervals of approximately 5 (and up to 9) months. Volunteers will be followed for 3 months after their last challenge.

Clinical Trial Description

This study aims primarily to assess the safety and feasibility of controlled blood-stage human P. vivax malaria infection. This will be the first time that this source of P. vivax infected blood will be utilised and the first P. vivax bloodstage CHMI in Europe. If demonstrated to be safe, it is intended that this parasitised blood bank be used in future CHMI studies to evaluate candidate vaccines.

This study will also assess parasite growth, including quantifying the sexual-stage parasites in the blood, as well as the transmission of P. vivax from volunteers to the Anopheline mosquito vectors and the immune responses in primary, secondary and tertiary P. vivax blood-stage challenge, as further secondary aims. Natural immunity to P. vivax is acquired over time, following repeated exposure. Repeated blood-stage challenge would improve understanding of how the human immune response to P. vivax infected is acquired, and how parasite growth changes in a second or third exposure. Repeated challenges can also be used to test if potential vaccine candidates can protect against repeated malaria infection. If proven to be safe and feasible in this study, this will provide a basis for conducting P. vivax blood-stage re-challenge studies for evaluation of new vaccine candidates.

The study is funded through The Wellcome Trust and MultiViVax, a European Commission Horizon 2020 funded project. ;

Related Conditions & MeSH terms

• Malaria
• Malaria, Vivax

• NCT number: NCT03797989
• Study type: Interventional
• Source: University of Oxford
• Status: Active, not recruiting
• Phase: Early Phase 1
• Start date: January 10, 2019
• Completion date: December 31, 2022