Safety and immunogenicity of a prototype adjuvanted inactivated split-virus influenza A (H5N1) vaccine in infants and children

Terry Nolan*, Peter C. Richmond, Neil T. Formica, Katja Höschler, Maryanne V. Skeljo, Tanya Stoney, Jodie McVernon, Gunter Hartel, Daphne C. Sawlwin, Jillian Bennet, David Ryan, Russell L. Basser, Maria C. Zambon

*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

Objective: Highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus (H5N1) is a leading candidate for the next influenza pandemic, and infants and children may play an important role in transmission in a pandemic. Our objective was to evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of a prototype inactivated, aluminium adjuvanted, split-virus, clade 1 H5N1 vaccine (A/Vietnam/1194/2004/NIBRG-14) in infants and children aged ≥6 months to <9 years. Methods: Healthy infants and children (N = 150) received two doses of 30 μg or 45 μg H5 HA with AlPO4 adjuvant 21 days apart. Serum samples were collected for virus microneutralisation (MN) and haemagglutination inhibition (HI) assays on Days 0, 21, and 42. Six-month antibody persistence following second vaccine dose was assessed by MN, and cross-reactive HI antibodies to a clade 2 variant strain (INDO5/RG2) were evaluated at Day 42. Findings: Both formulations were well-tolerated. Two doses of 30 μg or 45 μg H5 HA formulations elicited strong immune responses by both MN (98-99% ≥1:20) and HI assays (95-100% ≥1:32), with 80-87% of children having MN antibody persistence (≥1:20) up to 6 months post-vaccination. Additionally, robust cross-clade HI antibody responses were elicited following two doses. Interpretation: Two doses of prototype 30 μg or 45 μg aluminium-adjuvanted, H5N1 vaccines were highly immunogenic and well-tolerated, with considerable antibody persistence 6 months after the primary vaccination course. Additional cross-clade HI antibody responses and an acceptable safety and tolerability profile support the use of the either candidate vaccine formulations in infants and children in the event of a pandemic [ClinicalTrials.gov identifiers: NCT00370864].

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)6383-6391
Number of pages9
JournalVaccine
Volume26
Issue number50
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 25 Nov 2008
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors would like to extend their thanks to the parents/guardians and children, investigators and personnel at each study site. Specifically, the authors would like to thank staff from the Vaccine and Immunisation Research Group in Melbourne (Dr. L. Thorn, Dr. K. Alexander, Dr. J. Davey, Dr. W.L. Fah, Dr. L. Horng, Dr. J. Luong, Dr. N. Rose, M. Kefford, J. Ryrie, J. Sonego, L. Baker, M. Boglis, P. Fennessy, E. Hill, S. Macnee, E. Nolan, K. O’Grady, C. Sandhu, D. Saunders, S. Simms, J. Spotswood, P. Staig, E. Urban, S. Walker, and M. West), from the Vaccine Trials Group (Telethon Institute for Child Health Research) in Perth (S. Bilic, S. Nandlall, L. Montgomery, J. Adams and K. Prosser), and S. Miah and S. Gangar from the Virus Reference Laboratory at the Health Protection Agency for their assistance in this study. The study was sponsored by CSL Limited (Parkville, VIC, Australia), with contribution of a grant from the Australian Commonwealth Department of Health and Ageing. The A/Indonesia/5/2005 avian influenza strain involved in the development of the INDO5/RG2 strain (used to assess cross-clade immunogenicity in this study), was provided to the WHO Collaborating Centres for Reference and Research on Influenza by health authorities in Indonesia under virus sharing programs.

Funding Information:
Conflict of interest: G. Hartel, N.T. Formica, D.C. Sawlwin, J. Bennet, D. Ryan and R.L. Basser are employees of CSL Limited; Parkville, VIC, Australia. M.V. Skeljo is a former employee of CSL Limited. T.M. Nolan and P.C. Richmond have received honorarium payments and travel support from CSL Limited for scientific advisory meetings on unrelated vaccine research. K. Höschler and M.C. Zambon are employees of the Health Protection Agency, Colindale, UK, which received funding from CSL Limited to conduct the laboratory assays. All other authors have no conflict of interest.

Keywords

  • Avian influenza
  • Children
  • H5N1
  • Prototype
  • Vaccine

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