Highlights
Cancer mRNA vaccines: clinical advances and future opportunities
From the abstract: "Thus far, no mRNA-based cancer vaccines have received regulatory approval, although several phase I–II trials have yielded promising results, including in historically poorly immunogenic tumours. Furthermore, many early phase trials testing a wide range of vaccine designs are currently ongoing. In this Review, we describe the advantages of cancer mRNA vaccines and advances in clinical trials using both cell-based and nanoparticle-based delivery methods, with discussions of future combinations and iterations that might optimize the activity of these agents. "
High-resolution African HLA resource uncovers HLA-DRB1 expression effects underlying vaccine response
From the abstract: " How human genetic variation contributes to vaccine effectiveness in infants is unclear, and data are limited on these relationships in populations with African ancestries. We undertook genetic analyses of vaccine antibody responses in infants from Uganda (n=1391), Burkina Faso (n=353) and South Africa (n=755), identifying associations between human leukocyte antigen (HLA) and antibody response for five of eight tested antigens spanning pertussis, diphtheria and hepatitis B vaccines. In addition, through HLA typing 1,702 individuals from 11 populations of African ancestry derived predominantly from the 1000 Genomes Project, we constructed an imputation resource, fine-mapping class II HLA-DR and DQ associations explaining up to 10% of antibody response variance in our infant cohorts. "
Adverse Events After XBB.1.5-Containing COVID-19 mRNA Vaccines.
Niklas Worm Andersson et al. JAMA 2024 2
From the article: "The monovalent Omicron XBB.1.5–containing COVID-19 mRNA vaccines were authorized in the US and Europe for use in autumn and winter 2023-2024.In Denmark, the XBB.1.5-containing vaccines were recommended as a fifth COVID-19 vaccine dose to individuals aged 65 years and older beginning October 1, 2023. However, data to support safety evaluations are lacking. We investigated the association between the XBB.1.5-containing vaccine administered as a fifth COVID-19 vaccine dose and the risk of 28 adverse events. In this nationwide cohort of more than 1 million adults aged 65 years and older, no increased risk of 28 adverse events was observed following vaccination with a monovalent XBB.1.5-containing vaccine. "
Effectiveness of Bivalent mRNA COVID-19 Vaccines in Preventing SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Children and Adolescents Aged 5 to 17 Years
LR Feldstein et al, JAMA, February 6, 2024
From the abstract: " What is the effectiveness of the bivalent COVID-19 vaccines among children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 years? In this prospective cohort study including 2959 participants aged 5 to 17 years, vaccine effectiveness against laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection was 54.0% and vaccine effectiveness against symptomatic COVID-19 was 49.4%. During a period when the Omicron BA.4/5 sublineages were the predominant circulating variants, children and adolescents received protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection and symptomatic COVID-19 from the bivalent COVID-19 vaccines compared with those who were unvaccinated or received only the monovalent COVID-19 vaccine."
