A Multicenter, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled, Double-Blinded, Phase I Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Immunogenicity of Live Recombinant Canarypox ALVAC-HIV vCP205 Combined With GM-CSF in Healthy, HIV-1 Uninfected Volunteers

ALVAC-HIV candidate vaccines have induced HIV-specific CTL responses in more than half of recipients in some protocols. Depending on the HIV-1 gene products expressed by the particular ALVAC-HIV candidate vaccine, volunteers have generated anti-Envelope (vCP125, vCP205, and vCP300), anti-Gag (vCP205 and vCP300), and anti-Nef (vCP300) CTL activity. Although 3 to 4 immunizations with the different ALVAC-HIV experimental vaccines induce anti-HIV-1 neutralizing antibodies in a portion, often the majority, of volunteers, the geometric mean titers of these antibodies are modest, usually less than 50. This study will determine whether there is an increase in the anti-HIV antibody titers when GM-CSF is used as an adjuvant with ALVAC-HIV vCP205 and will also examine the kinetics and magnitude of the HIV-specific CTL response.

In this randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded study volunteers receive ALVAC-HIV vCP205 at 10^6.3 TCID50 or placebo and GM-CSF or placebo by intramuscular injection at Months 0, 1, 3, and 6 as follows:

Group A: vCP205 plus GM-CSF placebo (10 volunteers) Group B: vCP205 plus 80 microg GM-CSF (10 volunteers) Group C: vCP205 plus 250 microg GM-CSF (10 volunteers) Group D: vcP205 placebo plus GM-CSF placebo (6 volunteers). [AS PER AMENDMENT 04/30/99: Boosting with APL-400-047 HIV-1 gag/pol DNA is added for volunteers who have received all scheduled immunization in the original protocol. Volunteers in Groups A, B, and C will receive booster intramuscular injections of DNA vaccine at Months 0 and 1, those in Group D will receive DNA control (bupivacaine carrier alone) at Months 0 and 1].