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
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....
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:
Secondary Endpoints:
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 →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.
The criteria were revised on the registry on Oct 20, 2026. See what changed
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:
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.
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:
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:
An individual who meets any of the following criteria will be excluded from participation in this study:
Has any of the following:
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Those with their highest titer to a non-DENV2.
Biological: rDEN2delta30-7169
Those with a DENV2-dominant serotype.
Biological: rDEN2delta30-7169
Those with no exposures to flaviviruses
Biological: rDEN2delta30-7169
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.
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.
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.
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 ↗
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
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