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Developing a multi-component vaccine harnessing potent antibody and cellular responses against the blood-stage of Plasmodium falciparum

Award Number: R01AI155598
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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PROJECT SUMMARY The malaria parasite P. falciparum continues to cause significant morbidity and mortality, with 228 million clinical cases and 405,000 deaths in 2019. With progress towards controlling malaria stalling in many high burden countries and the continuing spread of drug resistant parasites, an effective malaria vaccine is urgently needed. RTS,S, a vaccine currently under implementation, has modest efficacy (~30%) and immunity waning rapidly. Importantly, this vaccine does not target the disease-causing forms of the parasite. An efficacious vaccine targeting Plasmodium blood-forms is required to reduce parasite burden, clinical disease and sequelae to severe disease. Our proposal aims to address this gap by developing a multi-modal P. falciparum vaccine targeting the blood-stage parasite and evaluating its efficacy using a relevant primate model of human malaria. We will build this multi-modal vaccine by incorporating two vaccine candidates with distinct effector mechanisms. The individual components have been tested rigorously and reproducibly in pre-clinical efficacy models. The first is a sub-unit vaccine candidate (AMA1-RON2L complex), designed to enhance antibody quality by increasing the proportion of neutralizing antibodies targeting AMA1. Using a structure-based approach we have now designed this subunit vaccine to cover AMA1 polymorphisms and generate strain-transcending, neutralizing antibodies. The second is a whole blood-stage parasite vaccine that induces a strain-transcending, anti-parasite response through direct cell-mediated killing. This multi-modal vaccine will be formulated with a novel cationic liposomal adjuvant that potently activates both the humoral and cell-mediated arms of the immune system, thereby providing a human-compatible adjuvant platform. We will perform dosing studies to optimize the P. falciparum multi-component vaccine in mice and evaluate impact of biological sex on the vaccine-induced immune response. We will also assess memory B cell and T cell responses induced by the multi-modal P. falciparum vaccine (Aim 1). Next, we will assess immunogenicity and protective efficacy of this multi-modal vaccine against homologous and heterologous P. falciparum in Aotus nancymaae and evaluate the persistence of the immune responses using a delayed re-challenge model (Aim2). Lastly, we will use validated immunological assays and apply cutting-edge technology (single-cell RNASeq) to help inform our understanding of immune correlates of protection. The major deliverable of this project will be a novel, pre-clinically validated, multi-modal P. falciparum blood-stage vaccine in a human-compatible liposomal adjuvant that can be progressed towards clinical trials.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $748,920 )
2024	2024	THE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY	3400 N CHARLES ST	BALTIMORE	MD	21218	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	3	4/4/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$748,920
														Subtotal = $748,920

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $672,371 )
2023	2023	JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, THE	3400 N CHARLES ST	BALTIMORE	MD	21218	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	2	4/25/2023	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$672,371
														Subtotal = $672,371

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $683,786 )
2022	2022	JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, THE	3400 N CHARLES ST	BALTIMORE	MD	21218	BALTIMORE CITY	USA	Allergy and Infectious Diseases Research	000	1	4/27/2022	NEW	$683,786
														Subtotal = $683,786

Grand Total All Awards = $2,105,077

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Developing a multi-component vaccine harnessing potent antibody and cellular responses against the blood-stage of Plasmodium falciparum

Award Number: R01AI155598

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

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