Lessons from a multisite international trial in the Caribbean and South America of an HIV-1 Canarypox vaccine (ALVAC-HIV vCP1452) with or without boosting with MN rgp120.

Background: The first multicenter, international National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)-sponsored HIV vaccine trial took place in Brazil, Haiti, Peru and Trinidad. This randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 2 trial evaluated the safety and immunogenicity of a clade B-derived, live canarypox HIV vaccine, vCP1452. vCP1452 was administered alone or with a heterologous boost of MN rgp120 glycoprotein.

The utility of ISCOMATRIX adjuvant for dose reduction of antigen for vaccines requiring antibody responses.

The capacity of an adjuvant to reduce the amount of antigen required in vaccines would be beneficial in a variety of settings, including situations where antigen is difficult or expensive to manufacture, or in situations where demand exceeds production capacity, such as pandemic influenza. The ability to reduce antigen dose would also be a significant advantage in combination vaccines, and vaccines that by necessity must contain multiple antigens to accommodate variability between strains or genotypes. ISCOMATRIX adjuvant was compared to aluminium hydroxide adjuvant (Al(OH3)) for induction of antibody responses and dose sparing of a recombinant HIV gp120 vaccine.