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New adjuvant successful in extending immunity against HIV

Study data prompts Phase 1 clinical trial

Date:
June 20, 2020
Source:
Emory Health Sciences
Summary:
Emory researchers are the first to show a new adjuvant, 3M-052, helps induce long-lasting immunity against HIV. This finding has implications for developing successful vaccines against HIV, influenza and COVID-19.
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Researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center and the Emory Vaccine Center (EVC) are first to show a new adjuvant, 3M-052, helps induce long-lasting immunity against HIV. The study results are published today in Science Immunology.

In this pre-clinical study that included 90 rhesus monkeys, the researchers showed 3M-052, a new, synthetic small molecule that targets a specific receptor (TLR 7/8), successfully induced vaccine-specific, long-lived bone marrow plasma cells (BM-LLPCs), which are critical for durable immunity. In a striking observation, 3M-052-induced BM-LLPCs were maintained at high numbers for more than one year after vaccination. This prolonged interval is not only feasible in monitoring pre-clinical effectiveness, it is also highly informative in down selecting vaccine candidates.

First author Sudhir Pai Kasturi, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and a research assistant professor at Yerkes and the EVC, says, "We have known adjuvants are critical immunity-boosting supplements that help improve the effectiveness of vaccines. Until now, however, it has been unclear which class of adjuvants can promote stable and long-lived immunity in nonhuman primate models. Our study provides that information."

Co-senior author Rafi Ahmed, PhD, director of the Emory Vaccine Center, adds, "The key to a successful vaccine is durability of immune responses. Antibodies provide the first line of defense against pathogens, and antibody levels are maintained by the generation of long-lived plasma cells that reside in bone marrow. Our study identifies an adjuvant that is effective in generating such long-lived plasma cells in bone marrow. This finding has implications for developing successful vaccines against HIV, influenza and, especially important now, COVID-19.

The research data from this study has prompted a phase 1 clinical trial to assess the potential of 3M-052 in the context of HIV Env antigens; see http://clinicaltrials.gov NCT04177355.

Research collaborators include Bali Pulendran, PhD, senior author and a professor at Stanford; Mohammed Ata Ur Rasheed, PhD, co-first author and a researcher in Dr. Ahmed's lab at the time of the study and now with the CDC; Christopher Fox, PhD, Infectious Disease Research Institute, who prepared the clinical grade adjuvant formulation; and Mark Tomai, PhD, and his team at 3M Drug Delivery Systems in Minnesota, who discovered the novel 3M-052 adjuvant.


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Materials provided by Emory Health Sciences. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Sudhir Pai Kasturi, Mohammed Ata Ur Rasheed, Colin Havenar-Daughton, Mathew Pham, Traci Legere, Zarpheen Jinnah Sher, Yevgeny Kovalenkov, Sanjeev Gumber, Jessica Y. Huang, Raphael Gottardo, William Fulp, Alicia Sato, Sheetal Sawant, Sherry Stanfield-Oakley, Nicole Yates, Celia LaBranche, S. Munir Alam, Georgia Tomaras, Guido Ferrari, David Montefiori, Jens Wrammert, Francois Villinger, Mark Tomai, John Vasilakos, Christopher B. Fox, Steven G. Reed, Barton F. Haynes, Shane Crotty, Rafi Ahmed, Bali Pulendran. 3M-052, a synthetic TLR-7/8 agonist, induces durable HIV-1 envelope–specific plasma cells and humoral immunity in nonhuman primates. Science Immunology, 2020; 5 (48): eabb1025 DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abb1025

Cite This Page:

Emory Health Sciences. "New adjuvant successful in extending immunity against HIV." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 June 2020. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200620141952.htm>.
Emory Health Sciences. (2020, June 20). New adjuvant successful in extending immunity against HIV. ScienceDaily. Retrieved December 8, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200620141952.htm
Emory Health Sciences. "New adjuvant successful in extending immunity against HIV." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/06/200620141952.htm (accessed December 8, 2024).

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