ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00486382Updated Apr 3, 2015

Open-Label Safety Study of Three-Antigen Leishmania Polyprotein With Adjuvant MPL-SE in Healthy Adults in India

A Phase 1 interventional study of Leish-111f + MPL-SE Adjuvant in Visceral Leishmaniasis and Post-kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis, sponsored by Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI). Completed at 1 site in India. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 54 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2015-04-03.

Sponsored by Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI) · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment

Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
36
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years to 54 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

The purpose of this study is to determine if a vaccine (called Leish-111f + MPL-SE) is safe and whether it can or cannot produce a protective response against visceral leishmaniasis when injected to healthy subjects.

Read the detailed description

The purpose of this study is to determine the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of an investigational vaccine being developed for immunotherapy of visceral leishmaniasis (VL) and post kala-azar dermal leishmaniasis (PKDL). The vaccine, identified as Leish-111f + MPL-SE, consists of a recombinant three-antigen Leishmania polyprotein (Leish-111f) together with adjuvant MPL-SE.

The primary objective is to evaluate the safety and tolerability of the Leish-111f + MPL-SE vaccine given as three subcutaneous injections every 28 days at each of three dose levels of the Leish-111f protein (5 μg, 10 μg, or 20 μg) together with MPL-SE adjuvant (25 μg) in healthy adults.

The secondary objective is to assess the immunogenicity of the vaccine by evaluating T-cell and antibody response to the Leish-111f protein of the vaccine.

02

Conditions studied

  • Visceral Leishmaniasis
  • Post-kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis

Keywords

  • visceral leishmaniasis
  • vaccine
03

In context

Leishmaniasis, Visceral

68 studies on the registry are indexed under Leishmaniasis, Visceral; 7 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 36 is below the median of 132 across 48 interventional studies indexed under Leishmaniasis, Visceral.

Browse Leishmaniasis, Visceral studies →

Lead sponsor

Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI) is the lead sponsor of 16 studies on the registry; none are open to participants now.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years to 54 Years
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

  • Males and females ≥ 18 years and \< 55 years of age.
  • Must be in good general health as confirmed by a medical history and physical exam.
  • DAT titer must be \<1:400 and rK39 serology negative (for inclusion in the DAT-negative group) or DAT titer ≥1:1600 (for inclusion in the DAT-positive group).
  • The following laboratory blood tests must have values within the normal ranges at screening (Appendix 4): sodium, potassium, urea, , AST, total , creatinine, alkaline phosphatase, glucose, , total WBC count and count.
  • The following serology tests must be negative at screening: 1/2, surface antigen (HBsAg), and virus (HCV) antibody. All subjects will receive HIV related counseling prior to testing. Subjects with positive HIV test results will receive counseling at the University and will be referred to the national AIDS control program for treatment if appropriate.
  • Subjects must give written , be willing and able to attend all required visits, have a permanent address, and be reachable by study site personnel.
  • Female subjects of must have a negative urine pregnancy test at screening, a negative urine pregnancy test within 24 hours before study injection, must not be breast-feeding, and are required to use adequate through Day 84 of the study. These precautions are necessary due to unknown effects that Leish-111f + MPL-SE might have in a fetus or newborn infant.

Exclusion criteria

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Previous exposure to Leishmania vaccines or experimental products containing MPL-SE.
  • Participation in another experimental protocol or receipt of any products within 30 days prior to the first administration of study injection.
  • Known use of injected or oral within 6 weeks prior to the first administration of study injection.
  • History of disease or other causes of states.
  • History or evidence of any acute or chronic illness that, in the opinion of the Principal Investigator, may interfere with the evaluation of the safety or the immunogenicity of the vaccine. (Potential subjects presenting with concomitant illness will be referred for clinical care.)
  • History of use of any medication that, in the opinion of the Principal Investigator, may interfere with the evaluation of the safety or the immunogenicity of the vaccine.
  • History of significant psychiatric illness.
  • Known to be a current drug or alcohol abuser.
  • Subjects with a history of previous anaphylaxis, severe allergic reaction to vaccines or unknown allergens, or allergic reaction to eggs.
  • History of chronic headaches or migraine.
  • Subjects who are unlikely to cooperate with the requirements of the study protocol.
  • Subjects who are not permanent residents or who are planning to move to another town/city.
Terms in these criteria, in plain language(14)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

ALT and AST (liver enzymes)

Two enzymes measured in a routine blood test of the liver. Higher levels can mean the liver is under strain or damaged. SGPT and SGOT are older names for ALT and AST.

Criteria usually give a limit as a multiple of the upper limit of normal (ULN), often higher when cancer has spread to the liver.

Bilirubin

A yellow substance made when red blood cells are broken down, which the liver clears. A high level can mean a problem with the liver or the bile ducts.

Criteria often allow more for people with Gilbert’s syndrome, a harmless inherited condition that raises bilirubin.

Hemoglobin (Hb)

The protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen. A low level is anaemia, which can cause tiredness and breathlessness. Measured in g/dL or g/L (9 g/dL is 90 g/L).

Platelets

Blood cells that help blood clot. Too few raises the risk of bleeding and bruising. A usual adult range is about 150–400 × 10⁹/L (150,000–400,000 per µL); each lab has its own reference range.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

Informed consent

Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.

You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.

Childbearing potential

Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).

Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.

Contraception

Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.

Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Immunosuppression

A weakened immune system. It can come from an illness, such as HIV or some blood cancers, or from medicines that turn the immune system down, for example after an organ transplant or for an autoimmune disease; steroids at higher doses count.

Read whether the line is about a condition or about medicines, and which medicines and doses it means.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Treatment
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Parallel assignment
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
36 participants (actual)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Low dose

    Biological/Vaccine: Leish-111f + MPL-SE Adjuvant

    Biological: Leish-111f + MPL-SE Adjuvant

  • Experimental
    Medium dose

    Biological/Vaccine: Leish-111f + MPL-SE Adjuvant

    Biological: Leish-111f + MPL-SE Adjuvant

  • Experimental
    High dose

    Biological/Vaccine: Leish-111f + MPL-SE Adjuvant

    Biological: Leish-111f + MPL-SE Adjuvant

Interventions

  • BiologicalLeish-111f + MPL-SE Adjuvant
06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. Injection site reactions

    Time frame: For 7 days following each injection.

07

Study locations

1 site
  • Banaras Hindu University
    Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh 221 005, India
08

Updates

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Apr 3, 2015, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
09

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00486382
Lead sponsor
Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI)
Collaborators
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jun 14, 2007
Start date
Apr 2007
Primary completion
Nov 2008
Completion
Nov 2008
Last update
Apr 3, 2015

Study contacts

Shyam Sundar, MD
principal investigator · Banaras Hindu University
Franco M Piazza, MD, MPh
study director · Access to Advanced Health Institute (AAHI)

Oversight

Data monitoring committee
Yes
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Apr 2015. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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