A Phase 1/2 interventional study of Matrix-M1 Adjuvant and EBV gp350-Ferritin Vaccine in Epstein-Barr Virus Infection, Infectious Mononucleosis and Herpesvirus, sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Completed at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 25 Years. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-04-22.
Sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) · Phase 1/2, Interventional, and Prevention
Background:
Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) causes most cases of infectious mononucleosis (mono). Mono can cause fatigue that lasts more than 6 months, and some people can have severe complications. EBV infection may also contribute to some cancers and autoimmune diseases. Currently, there are no approved therapies or vaccines for EBV infection.
Objective:
To test a vaccine against EBV.
Eligibility:
Healthy people aged 18 to 25 years.
Design:
Participants will be screened in 2 parts. They will have a blood test. If that test shows they have never had an EBV infection, they will have a second clinic visit. They will have a physical exam, with blood and urine tests. A cotton swab will be rubbed on their gums to collect saliva.
Participants will receive 2 injections into a shoulder muscle. Some will receive the EBV vaccine. Others will receive a placebo; this contains harmless salt water with no vaccine. Participants will not know which one they are getting. The 2 injections will be 30 days apart.
Participants will be asked to record any side effects or symptoms they have between visits. They can do this on paper or online.
Participants will return for a follow-up visit 60 days after the first injection. They will have follow-up visits by phone or telehealth after 5 and 8 months. They will return for a physical exam after 13 months. They may come back for an optional physical exam after 2 years.
Participants will come to the clinic if they become ill with an EBV infection during the study.
Study Description:
This is a multisite randomized, double-blinded phase 1/2 study to evaluate the immunogenicity and safety of a 3-dose regimen of an adjuvanted EBV glycoprotein (gp) 350-Ferritin nanoparticle vaccine in EBV-seronegative persons. We hypothesize that the vaccine will be safe and induce a potent EBV gp350-specific immune response. Sixty EBV-seronegative participants will be randomized; 30 will receive the EBV gp350-Ferritin vaccine and 30 will receive the placebo at Days 0, 30, and between 60 and 90. Participants will be followed for 1 year after the third dose with an option to follow for a second year.
Primary Objective:
To evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of an adjuvanted EBV gp350-Ferritin vaccine administered to healthy EBV-seronegative adults.
Secondary Objectives:
Exploratory Objectives:
To compare safety and immunogenicity of an accelerated 3-dose vaccination schedule (Days 0, 30, and 60 to 90) with the traditional
vaccination schedule evaluated in NCT04645147.
Primary Endpoint:
Change in mean EBV neutralizing antibody from Day 0 to 30 days after the third dose of study vaccine in EBV gp350-Ferritin vaccine recipients as compared with placebo.
Secondary Endpoints:
Safety through 30 days after the third dose of the study vaccine:
Exploratory Endpoints:
Safety through 30 days after the third dose of study vaccine in the standard dosing regimen (Days 0, 30, and 180) vs accelerated (Days 0, 30, and 60 to 90).
compared with placebo in participants who become infected with EBV.
21 studies on the registry are indexed under Infectious Mononucleosis; 5 are open to participants now.
Browse Infectious Mononucleosis studies →National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is the lead sponsor of 2,446 studies on the registry; 179 are open to participants now.
Of its 405 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 302 (75%) have results posted.
Compared within Infectious Mononucleosis, this study's primary condition as ClinicalTrials.gg classifies it; the registry's first condition term is Epstein-Barr Virus Infections. The counts are of registry records indexed under each term, refreshed daily. How we classify →
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.
To be eligible to participate in this study, an individual must meet all the following criteria:
Participants who can get pregnant must agree to abstain from sexual activities that can result in pregnancy or use one of the following effective methods of , starting 30 days before the first dose of study vaccine through 60 days after the third dose:
EXCLUSION CRITERIA:
An individual who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study:
Has received any of the following:
Has any of the following:
Co-enrollment guidelines:
Co-enrollment in other studies is restricted, other than enrollment on observational studies. Consideration for co-enrollment in trials evaluating the use of a licensed medication will require the approval of the PI or sponsor medical monitor (SMM). Study staff should be notified of co-enrollment on any other protocol as it may require the approval of the PI or SMM.
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.
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.
Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.
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).
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
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.
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.
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
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 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.
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Live vaccines
Vaccines made with a weakened form of the germ, such as measles–mumps–rubella (MMR), chickenpox and yellow fever. They can be risky when the immune system is weakened. Flu injections are not live; the nasal flu spray is.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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).
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Clinically significant
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
ULN (upper limit of normal)
The top of the normal range for a blood test, as set by the laboratory that runs it. Each lab prints its own range next to your result.
“≤ 2.5 × ULN” means the result can be up to two and a half times that top value.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Cancer (malignancy)
Malignancy means cancer. Criteria about another or earlier malignancy ask whether you have had a different cancer, usually within a set number of years.
Some are commonly allowed, such as treated skin cancers other than melanoma and early cancers removed completely — check the exceptions this study lists.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraindication
A reason a treatment, test or procedure should not be given to a particular person, such as an allergy, another illness or a medicine they take.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
The placebo will be delivered intramuscularly into the deltoid muscle at Days 0, 30, and between 60 and 90. Each dose will consist of 0.4mL normal saline.
Other: Placebo Comparator
The gp350-Ferritin vaccine will be delivered intramuscularly into the deltoid muscle at Days 0, 30, and between 60 and 90. Each vaccine dose will consist of 50 micrograms of EBV gp350-Ferritin combined with 49 micrograms of Matrix-M1 adjuvant.
Drug: Matrix-M1 Adjuvant · Drug: EBV gp350-Ferritin Vaccine
Matrix-M1 is composed of 2 types of 40 nm-sized particles each with a different saponin fraction (fraction A and fraction B) combined with cholesterol and phospholipid.
The EBV gp350-Ferritin vaccine is composed of Helicobacter pylori non-heme ferritin fused to EBV gp350 which self-assembles to form a nanoparticle. The vaccine is supplied in single-use vials at a concentration of 250 micrograms/mL in 1.7 mM KH2PO4, 5 mM Na2HPO4, 150 mM NaCl, 5% sucrose, pH 7.4 (diluent).
Normal Saline
Change in mean EBV neutralizing antibody from Day 0 to 30 days after the third dose of study vaccine in EBV gp350 Ferritin vaccine recipients as compared with placebo.
To evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the adjuvanted EBV gp350-Ferritin vaccine administered to healthy EBV-seronegative adults.
Time frame: Day 90-120
Reduction in EBV infection as measured by new anti-EBV VCA IgG or IgM or new EBV viremia for up to 2 years post-vaccination as compared with placebo
To preliminarily evaluate the efficacy of the adjuvanted EBV gp350-Ferritin vaccine administered to EBV seronegative adults.
Time frame: Year 2
Reduction of viremia measured by qPCR in EBV gp350 vaccine recipients as compared with placebo in participants who become infected with EBV
To preliminarily evaluate the efficacy of the adjuvanted EBV gp350-Ferritin vaccine administered to EBV seronegative adults.
Time frame: End of Study
Reduction EBV related infectious mononucleosis as defined by signs and symptoms consistent with infectious mononucleosis with laboratory evidence for new EBV infection for up to 2 years post-vaccination as compared with placebo
To preliminarily evaluate the efficacy of the adjuvanted EBV gp350-Ferritin vaccine administered to EBV seronegative adults.
Time frame: Year 2
Safety through day 90-120 Solicited local and systemic reactions within 7 days after study vaccine administration Unsolicited AEs through 30 days after the third dose of the study vaccine SAEs through 30 days after the th...
To evaluate the safety of the adjuvanted EBV gp350 Ferritin vaccine administered to EBV seronegative adults up to 30 days after the third dose of study vaccine.
Time frame: Day 90-120
Plan to share: No — De-identified individual patient data may be shared with the FDA, IRB and other regulatory bodies to ensure the safe and proper conduct of the study.
This study is completed, as verified in Apr 2026. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.
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Studies of the drug tested here: Matrix-M
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