Clinical trial finds temperature-stable TB vaccine safe, prompts immune response

LOS ANGELES, March 6 (Xinhua) -- A clinical trial testing a freeze-dried, temperature-stable experimental tuberculosis (TB) vaccine in healthy adults found that it was safe and stimulated both antibodies and responses from the cellular arm of the immune system, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on Monday.

The experimental vaccine, named ID93+GLA-SE, was developed by scientists at the Access to Advanced Health Institute in Seattle. It is a recombinant subunit vaccine made from four proteins of Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria combined with GLA-SE, an immune-stimulating adjuvant, according to the NIH.

The freeze-dried formulation does not require refrigeration and is mixed with sterile water just prior to injection.

The trial investigated whether administering temperature-stable vaccine containing both ID93 and GLA-SE in a single vial would be as effective at inducing an immune response as a regimen in which non-thermostable ID93 and liquid GLA-SE are held in two vials and combined prior to injection.

According to the trial results, recipients of the single-vial thermostable vaccine had robust T-cell responses and produced higher levels of antibodies in the blood than those receiving the non-thermostable two-vial presentation.