EVALUATION OF A MICROENCAPSULATED PARAINFLUENZA VACCINE

THE LONG-TERM OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A COMMERCIAL TRIVALENT GLYCOPROTEIN SUBUNIT VACCINE FOR PARAINFLUENZA VIRUSES. BECAUSE OF THE HIGH COST OF PREPARING THESE GLYCOPROTEINS, A MEANS FOR ACHIEVING AN ENHANCED IMMUNE RESPONSE IS AN IMPORTANT OBJECTIVE AND IS THE FOCUS OF THIS RESEARCH. BIOCOMPATIBLE AND BIODEGRADABLE MICROSPHERES CONSISTING OF ACOPOLYMER OF DL-LACTIDE AND GLYCOLIDE (POLY DL-LACTIDE-CO-GLYCOLIDE) WILL BE UTILIZED TO INCORPORATE INACTIVATED HUMAN PARAINFLUENZA TYPE 3 (PI3) VIRUS ANTIGENS INTO SMALL SPHERICAL PARTICLES (1-10 MU M). MICROSPHERES CONTAINING VIRAL ANTIGENS WILL BE USED FOR SUBCUTANEOUS, INTRANASAL, AND ORAL IMMUNIZATION OF EXPERIMENTAL ANIMALS, AND THEIR IMMUNE RESPONSE WILL BE EVALUATED. A DIFFERENT GROUP OF ANIMALS WILL BE SIMILARLY IMMUNIZED WITH INACTIVATED VIRUS IN SOLUTION FOR COMPARISON. IF A SIGNIFICANT ENHANCEMENT IN THE PROTECTIVE IMMUNE RESPONSE IS OBSERVED USING MICROENCAPSULATED PI3 VIRUS ANTIGENS, MORE DETAILED STUDIES WILL BE SUBSEQUENTLY PURSUED FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A MULTIVALENT SUBUNIT VACCINE USING PARAINFLUENZA TYPE 1, 2, AND 3 ENVELOPE GLYCOPROTEINS. STUDIES WILL ALSO BE CONDUCTED TO UNDERSTANDTHE MECHANISM OF PROTECTION AND THE DURATION OF SUCH RESPONSE. FINALLY, MICROENCAPSULATED VIRUS ENVELOPE GLYCOPROTEINS WILL BE UTILIZED FOR A CLINICAL FIELD TRIAL FOR IMMUNOPROPHYLAXIS AGAINST NATURAL INFECTION FROM PARAINFLUENZA VIRUSES.