Safety and immunogenicity of a subtype C ALVAC-HIV (vCP2438) vaccine prime plus bivalent subtype C gp120 vaccine boost adjuvanted with MF59 or alum in healthy adults without HIV (HVTN 107): A phase 1/2a randomized trial.

Background: Adjuvants are widely used to enhance and/or direct vaccine-induced immune responses yet rarely evaluated head-to-head. Our trial directly compared immune responses elicited by MF59 versus alum adjuvants in the RV144-like HIV vaccine regimen modified for the Southern African region. The RV144 trial of a recombinant canarypox vaccine vector expressing HIV env subtype B (ALVAC-HIV) prime followed by ALVAC-HIV plus a bivalent gp120 protein vaccine boost adjuvanted with alum is the only trial to have shown modest HIV vaccine efficacy. Data generated after RV144 suggested that use of MF59 adjuvant might allow lower protein doses to be used while maintaining robust immune responses. We evaluated safety and immunogenicity of an HIV recombinant canarypox vaccine vector expressing HIV env subtype C (ALVAC-HIV) prime followed by ALVAC-HIV plus a bivalent gp120 protein vaccine boost (gp120) adjuvanted with alum (ALVAC-HIV+gp120/alum) or MF59 (ALVAC-HIV+gp120/MF59) or unadjuvanted (ALVAC-HIV+gp120/no-adjuvant) and a regimen where ALVAC-HIV+gp120 adjuvanted with MF59 was used for the prime and boost (ALVAC-HIV+gp120/MF59 coadministration). Methods and findings: Between June 19, 2017 and June 14, 2018, 132 healthy adults without HIV in South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique were randomized to receive intramuscularly: (1) 2 priming doses of ALVAC-HIV (months 0 and 1) followed by 3 booster doses of ALVAC-HIV+gp120/MF59 (months 3, 6, and 12), n = 36; (2) 2 priming doses of ALVAC-HIV (months 0 and 1) followed by 3 booster doses of ALVAC-HIV+gp120/alum (months 3, 6, and 12), n = 36; (3) 4 doses of ALVAC-HIV+gp120/MF59 coadministered (months 0, 1, 6, and 12), n = 36; or (4) 2 priming doses of ALVAC-HIV (months 0 and 1) followed by 3 booster doses of ALVAC-HIV+gp120/no adjuvant (months 3, 6, and 12), n = 24. Primary outcomes were safety and occurrence and mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) of vaccine-induced gp120-specific IgG and IgA binding antibodies at month 6.5. All vaccinations were safe and well-tolerated; increased alanine aminotransferase was the most frequent related adverse event, occurring in 2 (1.5%) participants (1 severe, 1 mild). At month 6.5, vaccine-specific gp120 IgG binding antibodies were detected in 100% of vaccinees for all 4 vaccine groups. No significant differences were seen in the occurrence and net MFI of vaccine-specific IgA responses between the ALVAC-HIV+gp120/MF59-prime-boost and ALVAC-HIV+gp120/alum-prime-boost groups or between the ALVAC-HIV+gp120/MF59-prime-boost and ALVAC-HIV+gp120/MF59 coadministration groups. Limitations were the relatively small sample size per group and lack of evaluation of higher gp120 doses. Conclusions: Although MF59 was expected to enhance immune responses, alum induced similar responses to MF59, suggesting that the choice between these adjuvants may not be critical for the ALVAC+gp120 regimen. Trial registration: HVTN 107 was registered with the South African National Clinical Trials Registry (DOH-27-0715-4894) and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03284710). Zoe Moodie and colleagues investigate the safety and immunogenicity of a subtype C ALVAC-HIV vaccine prime plus bivalent subtype C gp120 vaccine boost adjuvanted with MF59 or alum in healthy adults without HIV. Author summary: Why was this study done?: Vaccines may use an adjuvant to help the body produce a stronger immune response. Results from animal studies suggested that the MF59 adjuvant generates better immunogenicity than the alum adjuvant when given as part of an HIV vaccine and could also allow a lower dose of protein to be used. Our clinical trial was done to directly assess in humans whether MF59 leads to better immune responses than alum when given with protein in a subtype C canarypox vaccine (ALVAC-HIV) prime followed by ALVAC-HIV plus a bivalent gp120 protein vaccine boost (gp120). What did the researchers do and find?: Vaccines were safe and well-tolerated over the 18 months of follow-up. 100% of vaccinees had vaccine-specific gp120 IgG binding antibodies at month 6.5. Immune responses for the ALVAC-HIV+gp120/MF59 group and the ALVAC-HIV+gp120/alum group were similar. What do these findings mean?: Contrary to expectation, the choice between MF59 and alum does not seem critical to the immune responses assessed in the peripheral blood for this subtype C ALVAC-HIV+gp120 prime-boost regimen. The main limitations of our study were the small vaccine group sample sizes and that higher doses of gp120 protein were not evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]