Safety and Allele-Specific Immunogenicity of a Malaria Vaccine in Malian Adults: Results of a Phase I Randomized Trial

Objectives: The objectives were to evaluate the safety, reactogenicity, and allele-specific immunogenicity of the blood-stage malaria vaccine FMP1/AS02A in adults exposed to seasonal malaria and the impact of natural infection on vaccine-induced antibody levels. Design: We conducted a randomized, double-blind, controlled phase I clinical trial. Setting: Bandiagara, Mali, West Africa, is a rural town with intense seasonal transmission of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. Participants: Forty healthy, malaria-experienced Malian adults aged 18–55 y were enrolled. Interventions: The FMP1/AS02A malaria vaccine is a 42-kDa recombinant protein based on the carboxy-terminal end of merozoite surface protein-1 (MSP-142) from the 3D7 clone of P. falciparum, adjuvanted with AS02A. The control vaccine was a killed rabies virus vaccine (Imovax). Participants were randomized to receive either FMP1/AS02A or rabies vaccine at 0, 1, and 2 mo and were followed for 1 y. Outcome Measures: Solicited and unsolicited adverse events and allele-specific antibody responses to recombinant MSP-142 and its subunits derived from P. falciparum strains homologous and heterologous to the 3D7 vaccine strain were measured. Results: Transient local pain and swelling were more common in the malaria vaccine group than in the control group (11/20 versus 3/20 and 10/20 versus 6/20, respectively). MSP-142 antibody levels rose during the malaria transmission season in the control group, but were significantly higher in malaria vaccine recipients after the second immunization and remained higher after the third immunization relative both to baseline and to the control group. Immunization with the malaria vaccine was followed by significant increases in antibodies recognizing three diverse MSP-142 alleles and their subunits. Conclusions: FMP1/AS02A was well tolerated and highly immunogenic in adults exposed to intense seasonal malaria transmission and elicited immune responses to genetically diverse parasite clones. Anti-MSP-142 antibody levels followed a seasonal pattern that was significantly augmented and prolonged by the malaria vaccine. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00308061 : Background: In sub-Saharan Africa the burden of death and disease from malaria is particularly severe. Most affected are young children under the age of five, in whom natural immunity against the malaria parasite has not yet developed. There are not yet any approved vaccines that would reduce this burden, although many research groups are currently developing potential vaccines. One such candidate vaccine is FMP1/AS02A. This vaccine is designed to trigger an immune response against a protein (merozoite surface protein-1, or MSP-1) found on the surface of the infectious, blood-stage form of the malaria parasite. Early-stage clinical trials have already been performed in healthy people in the United States, who were not exposed to clinical malaria, and in Kenyan adults who are exposed to malaria throughout the year. These studies did not identify any safety concerns regarding the candidate vaccine, which meant that it could progress further in clinical testing. As part of this next stage, a group of researchers wanted to examine the safety and ability of the vaccine to boost immune responses in an area of sub-Saharan Africa where people are not exposed to malaria throughout the year, but rather only in the wet season. The trial reported here was carried out in northeast Mali, in which 40 adults received either the FMP1/AS02A vaccine or a rabies vaccine for comparison, just at the start of the malaria transmission season. The researchers primarily looked at safety outcomes, collecting data on certain specific signs or symptoms up to 8 d after immunization, other reported symptoms up to 31 d after immunization, and any serious adverse events during a follow-up period of 364 d after immunization. The researchers also examined antibody levels in the participants' blood against the MSP-1 protein.