ClinicalTrials.gg
RecruitingNCT07706686Updated Oct 22, 2026

Phase 1 Challenge Study Using rDEN2delta30-7169 to Evaluate Host-Pathogen Interactions in Primary, Homotypic, and Heterotypic Dengue Virus Infection

A Phase 1 interventional study of rDEN2delta30-7169 in Healthy Volunteers, Dengue and Human Challenge Trial, sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Recruiting at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years to 50 Years, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-10-22.

Sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) · Phase 1, Interventional, and Basic science

From the registry’s dates

  • Started Aug 2026; still recruiting 3 months later.
Updated Oct 20, 2026Eligibility revisedGo to Updates ↓
Phase
Phase 1
Study type
Interventional
Enrollment
200
Allocation
Non-randomized
Ages
18 Years to 50 Years
Sex
All
01

Study summary

Background:

Dengue is a viral disease spread by mosquitoes. Most people bitten by mosquitoes carrying dengue viruses do not get sick, but severe cases can cause shock, internal bleeding, and death. There are no treatments for dengue. To develop treatments, researchers need to understand more about what dengue viruses do in the body.

Objective:

To infect healthy people with a mild dengue virus to study how their body responds.

Eligibility:

People ages 18 to 50 years with or without a history of dengue virus infection.

Design:

Participants will be screened. They will have a physical exam with blood tests. The tests will show whether they have ever been infected with dengue or related viruses in the past.

At their first study visit, participants will receive an injection of dengue virus into the arm. The injected virus is weaker than the natural virus, so any symptoms should be milder.

Participants will have a total of 11 study visits over 6 months; 8 of those visits will be in the first month. Blood will be drawn at each visit. Some visits will include ultrasound exams of their internal organs. They will discuss any symptoms they are having. Any rashes they develop may be photographed.

Two procedures are optional: Participants may have up to 5 lymph node aspirations and 3 bone marrow biopsies during the study. For both procedures, a needle will be inserted into the tissues to draw out immune cells.

Two more visits are optional: 1 visit up to 2 months before receiving the virus, for lymph node or bone marrow samples, and 1 about a year after for a blood draw....

Read the detailed description

Study Description:

This is a phase 1 challenge trial where healthy adults with no flavivirus antibodies (naive), dengue virus serotype 2 (DENV2)-dominant antibodies (homotypic), or non-DENV2-dominant antibodies (heterotypic) will be infected with the live attenuated DENV2 challenge strain rDEN2delta30-7169. We will evaluate the safety and immunogenicity of the challenge strain as well as how immune history influences IP-10 signaling, bone marrow cellularity, and the development of bone marrow DENV2-specific cells. Exploratory objectives include examining the immunological and clinical impact of homotypic and heterotypic infection, how viral replication affects the bone marrow and induces protective or dysregulated immune responses, and the determinants of long-lived immunity to inform dengue vaccines and therapeutics. We hypothesize that the challenge strain will be safe. The heterotypic group is predicted to have the highest viremia as measured by RNA (viral RNAemia) and boost in neutralizing antibodies, and the homotypic challenge group will have the lowest. We also expect that the heterotypic group will have the biggest changes in IP-10 signaling between days 0 and 19. During acute infection, we expect that the heterotypic and naive groups will have altered bone marrow cellularity such that it differs from the reference range, but the homotypic group will not have altered cellularity. At day 28, we expect that there will be DENV-specific antibody secreting cells in the bone marrow.

Primary Objective:

Evaluate the safety, viral RNAemia, and immunogenicity of rDEN2delta30-7169 in those with distinct DENV infection histories.

Secondary Objectives:

Compare chemokine signaling and the magnitude of DENV2-specific antibody-secreting cells in the bone marrow among groups. Evaluate the bone marrow cellularity during infection within each group.

Primary Endpoints:

  1. Safety: The frequency and severity of adverse events (AEs) through day 28 and serious adverse events (SAEs) through day 180 regardless of prior immune history.
  2. Viral RNAemia: Fold difference between groups in peak viral RNAemia titers on any day from days 2 to 19.
  3. Immunogenicity: Fold change in DENV1-4 neutralizing antibody geometric mean titers (GMTs) between days 0 and 28 within each group.

Secondary Endpoints:

  1. Differences in the change in IP-10 signaling between day 0 and days 2 to 19 among groups.
  2. Difference between the bone marrow cellularity at day 5 versus the reference range within each group.
  3. The magnitude of bone marrow DENV-specific antibody-secreting cells at day 28.
02

Conditions studied

  • Healthy Volunteers
  • Dengue
  • Human Challenge Trial

Keywords

  • Dengue
  • Viruses
  • Healthy Volunteers
  • Human challenge trial
  • Antibody dependent enhancement
  • Bone marrow examination
  • Host pathogen interactions
  • Immunology
  • Lymph node aspiration
03

In context

Dengue

283 studies on the registry are indexed under Dengue; 44 are open to participants now.

This study's planned enrollment of 200 is above the median of 132 across 197 interventional studies indexed under Dengue.

Browse Dengue studies →

Lead sponsor

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.

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

04

Who can participate

The criteria were revised on the registry on Oct 20, 2026. See what changed

Ages eligible
18 Years to 50 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

To be eligible to participate in this study, an individual must meet all the following criteria:

  1. Aged 18 to 50 years.
  2. In good general health as evidenced by medical history, physical examination, and laboratory screening results
  3. Willing to allow storage of samples and data for future research.
  4. Willing to forgo receipt of any vaccine in the 28 days preceding the challenge strain through the 28 days following administration of the challenge strain. For participants opting for LN FNA or bone marrow sampling on day 57, they must be willing to forgo any vaccine through day 57. For those opting for LN FNA or bone marrow sampling on day 180, they must be willing to forgo any vaccine for at least 28 days before sampling.
  5. For individuals who can become pregnant: use of at least one method of effective (see below) from at least 28 days prior to challenge through 60 days after challenge.
  6. Able to provide .
  7. Willing to adhere to lifestyle considerations for the duration of the study.
  8. Willing to avoid travel to a dengue-endemic area as defined by the CDC from 1 month before administration of challenge through day 28. For participants opting for LN FNA or bone marrow sampling on day 57, they must be willing to forgo travel through day 57.
  9. Serologic evidence of previous dengue virus infection consistent with our serology criteria.

    a. For the flavivirus-naive group, they must have no history of flavivirus vaccination or medical illness concerning for a flavivirus infection. If there is uncertainty about a previous flavivirus exposure, then confirmatory antibody testing against the virus of interest must be negative.

  10. Agree to avoid participation in other clinical studies requiring interventions through day 180.
  11. Agree to avoid blood and plasma donation outside this study through day 57.

Contraceptive requirements: Participants who can become pregnant must agree to use at least one method of effective contraception as outlined below from at least 28 days before through 60 days after challenge to avoid any potential risk from the product on the pregnancy or fetus. Participants who can become pregnant must have a negative serum pregnancy test on day 0 before receiving rDEN2delta30-7169. If a participant becomes pregnant or suspects they are pregnant during the study, they should inform the study staff and their primary care physician immediately. Acceptable forms of contraception are listed below and are consistent with prior studies using this product:

  • Intrauterine device or equivalent.
  • Hormonal contraceptive (e.g., consistent, timely, and continuous use of contraceptive pill, patch, ring, implant, or injection that has reached full efficacy prior to challenge).
  • Condom, diaphragm, or cervical cap plus spermicide.
  • A stable, long-term monogamous relationship with a partner who does not pose any potential pregnancy risk, e.g., has undergone a vasectomy at least 6 months prior to administration of challenge strain or is of the same sex as the participant.
  • A hysterectomy and/or a bilateral tubal ligation, bilateral oophorectomy, or status defined as age >=45 years and at least 1 year since last menstrual period.

Participants who become pregnant after challenge but before day 180 will be excluded from any further research procedures. If the participant agrees, we will collect and report pregnancy outcomes through day 180, which is the final required study visit.

Exclusion criteria

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

An individual who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study:

  1. Pregnancy.
  2. Lactation during the first 28 days of the study.
  3. Baseline (ANC) \<=750 cells/microL.
  4. Baseline creatinine >=1.5 mg/dL.
  5. Baseline >=1.25 x .
  6. Requiring a potent anticoagulator like a direct acting oral agent or warfarin during the first 28 days of the study.
  7. History of or positive test result for , , or .
  8. History of a tetravalent, chimeric, or subunit dengue vaccine.
  9. Has any of the following:

    1. More than 10 days of systemic medications (>=10 mg prednisone dose or its equivalent) or cytotoxic medication within the 30 days prior to administration of challenge strain or immunomodulating therapy within 180 days prior to administration of challenge strain.
    2. Received blood products, including immunoglobulin products, within 120 days prior to administration of challenge strain.
    3. History of serious reactions to vaccines.
    4. Hereditary, acquired, or idiopathic forms of angioedema.
    5. Idiopathic urticaria within the past year.
    6. Asthma that is not well controlled or required emergency care, urgent care, hospitalization, or intubation during the past two years or that requires the use of oral or intravenous .
    7. Type 1 or type 2 diabetes mellitus that is not well controlled ( >8).
    8. disease or immunodeficiency.
    9. Blood pressure >=180/110 (stage 3 hypertension) on at least 2 measures.
    10. Documented diagnosis of a bleeding disorder (e.g., factor deficiency, coagulopathy, or disorder requiring special precautions).
    11. Significant bruising or bleeding difficulties with subcutaneous injections or blood draws.
    12. that is active or treated malignancy for which there is no reasonable assurance of sustained cure, or malignancy that is likely to recur during the study period.
    13. Asplenia or functional asplenia.
    14. Current alcohol or drug abuse or addiction.
  10. Any medical, psychiatric, or social condition that, in the judgement of the investigator, is a to protocol participation.

Co-enrollment guidelines: Co-enrollment in other interventional trials 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 principal investigator in consultation with the sponsor medical monitor (SMM). Study staff should be notified of co-enrollment on any other protocol as it may require the approval of the principal investigator (in consultation with the SMM).

Terms in these criteria, in plain language(18)

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.

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.

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.

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.

Postmenopausal

Periods have stopped for good: usually no period for 12 months in a row without another medical reason, sometimes confirmed by a blood test (FSH).

Absolute neutrophil count (ANC)

The number of neutrophils, white blood cells that help fight infection, in a given amount of blood. Too few raises the risk of infection.

It is a count, not a percentage of the white cells. Limits are written in units that mean the same: ≥ 1.5 × 10⁹/L is ≥ 1,500 per mm³ (µL). Each lab has its own reference range.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

HbA1c

A blood test of average blood sugar over the past two to three months, given as a percentage or in mmol/mol. 6.5% (48 mmol/mol) or more is the usual threshold for diabetes, normally confirmed by a second test.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

05

Study design

Phase
Phase 1
Primary purpose
Basic science
Allocation
Non-randomized
Intervention model
Single group
Masking
None (open label)
Enrollment
200 participants (estimated)

Study arms

  • Experimental
    Heterotypic

    Those with their highest titer to a non-DENV2.

    Biological: rDEN2delta30-7169

  • Experimental
    Homotypic

    Those with a DENV2-dominant serotype.

    Biological: rDEN2delta30-7169

  • Experimental
    Naive

    Those with no exposures to flaviviruses

    Biological: rDEN2delta30-7169

Interventions

  • BiologicalrDEN2delta30-7169

    The rDEN2delta30-7169 strain is a live attenuated recombinant virus constructed by introducing a 30-nucleotide deletion (delta30) in 3 UTR of the wild type DEN-2 Tonga/74.

06

What researchers measure

Primary outcomes

  1. The frequency and severity of AEs through day 28 and SAEs through day 180.

    Evaluate the safety of the challenge strain in all groups.

    Time frame: Through Day 180

  2. Fold difference between groups in peak viral RNAemia titers on any day from days 2 to 19.

    Evaluate viral replication by qRT-PCR and compare the peak replication among groups.

    Time frame: Through Day 19

  3. Fold change in DENV1-4 neutralizing antibody GMTs between days 0 and 28 within each group.

    Evaluate the immunogenicity of the challenge by examining the change in antibody titers in each group.

    Time frame: Through Day 28

Secondary outcomes

  1. Differences in the change in IP-10 signaling between day 0 and days 2 to 19 among groups.

    Evaluation of IP-10 over time will allow us to evaluate how prior DENV exposure influences the immune response to viral replication.

    Time frame: Through Day 19

  2. Difference between the bone marrow cellularity at day 5 versus the reference range within each group.

    Cellularity is measured as the percentage of hematopoietic cells vs. fat in the marrow and will allow us to evaluate whether the marrow is suppressed or proliferative at day 5 in each group.

    Time frame: At Day 5

  3. The magnitude of bone marrow DENV-specific antibody-secreting cells at day 28.

    The presence of DENV-specific antibody-secreting cells in the bone marrow at day 28 would indicate that long lived immunity has been established and allow us to study the determinants of this immunity.

    Time frame: At Day 28

07

Study locations

1 of 1 sites recruiting
  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center
    Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
    Recruiting
    • Camila Odio, M.D. · Contactcamila.odio@nih.gov · 240-338-4945
    • NIH Clinical Center Office of Patient Recruitment (OPR) · Contactccopr@nih.gov · (800) 411-1222
08

References and documents

Individual participant data

Plan to share: Yes — All collected IPD may be shared. To protect research participant identities, all direct identifiers will be stripped from datasets. Patient-level variables not needed for interpreting the data will be removed or, where appropriate, anonymized using data masking (hiding data with altered values). Indirect identifiers needed for interpreting the data will be anonymized through generalization (e.g. ranges for age, larger categories for country of birth) or perturbation (slight alteration of the data, e.g. time since last lived in a dengue-endemic region), as appropriate.

Supporting information: Study protocol, Statistical analysis plan, Informed consent form, Clinical study report, Analytic code

Time frame: Scientific data will be made available no later than the time of publication, when possible. We place no restrictions on the length of time data will be made available.

Access criteria: IPD used in publications will be de-identified, generalized, and shared as supplemental material, which can be accessed by any person reading the article. De-identified, generalized IPD will also be deposited in ImmPort. Data are available on ImmPort to qualified researchers after a brief registration and approval process. Users must accept a data sharing and access agreement before approval is granted. Genetic data will be deposited in dbGap with only the minimal associated metadata needed for interpretation to reduce any possibility of de-identification. To gain access to data on dbGap, researchers must agree to follow the NIH Genomic Data Sharing (GDS) Policy, and be approved by the NIH Data Access Committee or appropriate Data Access Committee. They must describe the proposed use of the data and ensure all researchers involved in the request will adhere to this project outline. Investigators gain access to the data for one year with the ability to extend to additional years.

09

Timeline

3 registry updates since Sep 25, 2026
ElapsedEstimatedEstimated, not yet reachedSimilar studies: half by the dot; the band is the middle halfHalf of similar studies reached it by the dot; the band is the middle half, from a quarter to three quarters

Started Aug 2026 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Nov 2028, 26 months after the start.

Of 22 phase 1 interventional studies under Dengue, half reached primary completion within 14 months of starting (the median), counting those still running; a quarter within 8 and three quarters within 18. This study's planned 26 months is above that.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Jul 15, 2026
First posted
Jul 16, 2026
StartActual
Aug 7, 2026
Primary completionEst.
Nov 3, 2028
CompletionEst.
May 3, 2029
Last update
Oct 22, 2026
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Primary completion.
When the last participant was examined or treated to collect data for the study's main question, its primary outcome. A study that stopped early gives the date its data collection stopped.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
Actual and Est.
Actual means the registry says the date has happened. Est. (estimated) is a date the sponsor plans or expects. It can still move, and the sponsor is expected to change it to actual once it has passed.
Eligibility
1 inclusion criterion edited
What changed in the criteria
Inclusion criteria
  • EditedWilling to forgo receipt of any vaccine in the 28 days preceding the challenge strain through the 28 days following administration of the challenge strain. For participants opting for LN FNA or bone marrow sampling on day 57, they must be willing to forgo any vaccine through day 57. For those opting for LN FNA or bone marrow sampling on day 180, they must be willing to forgo any vaccine for at least 28 days before sampling.
Oct 20, 2026
Secondary outcomes
1 edited
What changed in the outcomes
  • EditedThe magnitude of bone marrow DENV-specific antibody-secreting cells at day 5728.Time frame: At Day 57 → At Day 28
Oct 20, 2026
Show all 3 updates
  1. Oct 22, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: verification date
  2. Oct 20, 2026
    Eligibility 1 inclusion criterion edited
    What changed in the criteria
    Inclusion criteria
    • EditedWilling to forgo receipt of any vaccine in the 28 days preceding the challenge strain through the 28 days following administration of the challenge strain. For participants opting for LN FNA or bone marrow sampling on day 57, they must be willing to forgo any vaccine through day 57. For those opting for LN FNA or bone marrow sampling on day 180, they must be willing to forgo any vaccine for at least 28 days before sampling.
    Secondary outcomes 1 edited
    What changed in the outcomes
    • EditedThe magnitude of bone marrow DENV-specific antibody-secreting cells at day 5728.Time frame: At Day 57 → At Day 28
    + 1 other change: description
  3. Sep 25, 2026
    Minor edits only
    + 1 other change: verification date

From the registry record's own update history. This site started tracking changes on Sep 25, 2026; for anything earlier, see the record history on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

10

Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT07706686
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Jul 16, 2026
Start date
Aug 7, 2026
Primary completion
Nov 3, 2028 (estimated)
Completion
May 3, 2029 (estimated)
Last update
Oct 22, 2026

Study contacts

Camila D Odio, M.D.
Contact
camila.odio@nih.gov
(240) 338-4945
Camila D Odio, M.D.
principal investigator · National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Oversight

FDA-regulated drug
Yes
FDA-regulated device
No
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

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