• Eleonora G Thacher, Matthias Cavassini, Régine Audran, Anne-Christine Thierry, Anne Bollaerts, Joe Cohen, Marie-Ange Demoitié, Dawit Ejigu, Pascal Mettens, Philippe Moris, Opokua Ofori-Anyinam, and François Spertini.
• aDivision of Immunology and Allergy bService of Infectious Diseases, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland cGlaxoSmithKline Vaccines, Rixensart, Belgium. *The authors Eleonora G. Thacher and Matthias Cavassini contributed equally to the writing of this article. †Opokua Ofori-Anyinam and François Spertini are equal senior authors.
• AIDS. 2014 Jul 31;28(12):1769-81.

ObjectiveTuberculosis (TB) is highly prevalent among HIV-infected people, including those receiving combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), necessitating a well tolerated and efficacious TB vaccine for these populations. We evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of the candidate TB vaccine M72/AS01 in adults with well controlled HIV infection on cART.DesignA randomized, observer-blind, controlled trial (NCT00707967).MethodsHIV-infected adults on cART in Switzerland were randomized 3 : 1 : 1 to receive two doses, 1 month apart, of M72/AS01, AS01 or 0.9% physiological saline (N = 22, N = 8 and N = 7, respectively) and were followed up to 6 months postdose 2 (D210). Individuals with CD4⁺ cell counts below 200 cells/μl were excluded. Adverse events (AEs) including HIV-specific and laboratory safety parameters were recorded. Cell-mediated (ICS) and humoral (ELISA) responses were evaluated before vaccination, 1 month after each dose (D30, D60) and D210.ResultsThirty-seven individuals [interquartile range (IQR) CD4⁺ cell counts at screening: 438-872 cells/μl; undetectable HIV-1 viremia] were enrolled; 73% of individuals reported previous BCG vaccination, 97.3% tested negative for the QuantiFERON-TB assay. For M72/AS01 recipients, no vaccine-related serious AEs or cART-regimen adjustments were recorded, and there were no clinically relevant effects on laboratory safety parameters, HIV-1 viral loads or CD4⁺ cell counts. M72/AS01 was immunogenic, inducing persistent and polyfunctional M72-specific CD4⁺ T-cell responses [medians 0.70% (IQR 0.37-1.07) at D60] and 0.42% (0.24-0.61) at D210, predominantly CD40L⁺IL-2⁺TNF-α⁺, CD40L⁺IL-2⁺ and CD40L⁺IL-2⁺TNF-α⁺IFN-γ⁺]. All M72/AS01 vaccines were seropositive for anti-M72 IgG after second vaccination until study end.ConclusionM72/AS01 was clinically well tolerated and immunogenic in this population, supporting further clinical evaluation in HIV-infected individuals in TB-endemic settings.

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