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RECRUITING
NCT05272735
PHASE4

HBV Vaccination of Healthy Volunteers to Evaluate the Composition of Germinal Centers

Sponsor: Rockefeller University

View on ClinicalTrials.gov

Summary

Antibodies are the primary mediators of the protection against infection provided by vaccination. Antibodies become most powerful after the B cells that produce them undergo an evolutionary process called affinity maturation, in which antibodies increase their ability to bind to their targets, and thus neutralize pathogens. Affinity maturation occurs in structures within secondary lymphoid organs (for example lymph nodes or tonsils) known as germinal centers. Germinal centers are well known to be triggered by the first dose of vaccines, generating affinity matured plasma cells (B cells that secrete antibody into serum) and memory B cells, which can be converted into plasma cells by booster doses of vaccine. However, it is not fully understood the extent to which memory B cells can return to germinal centers again upon vaccine boosting. Such return would be very important to allow B cells, for example, to adapt to emerging variants of viruses such as influenza or SARS-CoV-2. This study will involve acquiring samples of B cells from germinal centers that form in response to vaccination with the highly effective hepatitis B vaccine. These cells will be analyzed to determine what fraction of them are memory B cells that returned to germinal centers upon boosting, information that is key to knowledge of how vaccine boosters work. Understanding the "rules" that govern how and when memory B cells choose to return to germinal centers in an effective vaccine such hepatitis B could help efforts to develop effective vaccination against more challenging, rapidly mutating viruses, such as influenza, HIV, and hepatitis C.

Key Details

Gender

All

Age Range

18 Years - 50 Years

Study Type

INTERVENTIONAL

Enrollment

12

Start Date

2022-12-10

Completion Date

2026-12-31

Last Updated

2025-03-19

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Conditions

Interventions

BIOLOGICAL

Hepatitis B Vaccine (Recombinant)

Hepatitis B Vaccine (Recombinant) 20 mcg intramuscular injection at 0-1-6 months

Locations (1)

The Rockefeller University

New York, New York, United States