HPIV3
cp45 was derived from the JS strain of HPIV3 by 45 passages at low temperature (cold-passage [
cp]) [
59]. During this process, the virus acquired 20 nucleotide substitutions, 15 of which were considered significant because they occurred in or near RNA signals (five mutations) or caused amino acid substitutions (ten mutations) () [
60,
61]. Six of the amino acid substitutions were found to contribute independently to the HPIV3
cp45 attenuation phenotype. In Phase I trials, HPIV3
cp45 was evaluated sequentially in adults, seropositive children, seronegative children and finally in infants at 1-2 months of age (). At a dose of 10
4 infectious units (expressed as plaque-forming units [PFU] or 50% tissue culture infectious doses [TCID
50]), HPIV3
cp45 was well-tolerated and highly infectious (>90%) in 1–3 month-old seronegative infants. The vaccine virus was shed for 2–3 weeks. with a mean peak titer of 10
3.3 PFU/ml of nasal wash fluid [
47,
62]. A second dose of vaccine was administered either 1 or 3 months after the first dose. Vaccinees who received dose two at 3 months after dose one were more likely to shed the vaccine virus and to shed higher titers of the vaccine virus than vaccinees who received dose two 1 month after dose one, indicating that protective immunity induced by the first dose had partially waned by 3 months. No reliable serological correlate of the observed protection could be identified in this youngest cohorr of vacinees. HPIV3-specific IgG responses were infrequent, potentially obscured owing to the presence of maternally-derived HPIV3-specific IgG. HPIV3 HN-specific serum IgA responses were detected in the majority of infants but did not correlate well with protection against replication of a second dose of vaccine [
47]. In a separate trial involving 380 children aged 6–18 months that included 226 seronegative infants and children, a single dose of 10
5 PFU ofHPIV3
cp45 was found to be well-tolerated, safe and immunogenic [
63]. No significant difference in the frequency of adverse events (rhinitis, cough, fever or otitis media) was noted during the first 2 weeks after vaccination and 84% of seronegative vaccinees seroconverted to HPIV3, indicating that the vaccine was safe, appropriately attenuated and immunogenic in this age group [
63]. Compatibility between live-attenuated RSV and HPIV3 components of an experimental bivalent vaccine was assessed by simultaneous intranasal vaccination with 10
5 PFU each of RSV cold-passaged and temperature sensitive [
cpts]248/404 and HPIV3
cp45 in 6–18 month-old seronegative children. In this trial, 92% of vaccinees were infected with HPIV3
cp45 when the vaccine was given as a monovalem vaccine, whereas 76% were infected following co-administration with the RSV component, suggesting that the replication of
RSVcpts248/404 might have interfered with that of HPIV3
cp45. Nonetheless, antibody responses against HPIV3 were similar in subjects receiving monovalent versus bivalent vaccine [
64]. The above mentioned trials were performed with biologically-derived virus. Subsequently, the vaccine virus was rederived from cDNA using a reverse genetics system and recombinant (r)HPIV3
cp45 is the drug substance used in current clinical development efforts. Derivation of the vaccine virus from cDNA provides a preparation with a short, well-defined passage history that minimizes the risk of potential biological contamination of the vaccine seed virus. This technology also enables rederivation of the vaccine virus from cDNA at any time. The clinical development of rHPIV3
cp45 is conducted in a cooperative research and development agreement between the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and MedImmune, LLC. Currently, two Phase I trials are being sponsored by NIAID. The first protocol (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00308412) [
101] enrolled a total of 45 children 6–36 months of age into two cohorts, both randomized 2:1 to receive two doses of rHPIY3
cp45 (10
5 TCID
50) at placebo 4–10 weeks apart. In the first cohort of 24 unscreened infants 6–12 month of age, frequent nasal washes were performed for quantitative virology. In this unscreened cohort, all ten seronegative vaccinees had the vaccine virus detected in nasal washes for approximately 2 weeks, with a mean peak titer of 10
3.6 TCID
50/ml, whereas only two out of five seropositive vaccinees had the vaccine virus detected for a single day each, with a mean peak titer of 10
0.9 TCID
50/ml. Only one of the 15 vaccinees shed the vaccine following dose two, again suggesting that a protective immune response restricted replication of the vaccine virus. An additional 21 seronegative children 6–36 months of age were enrolled into this study to expand the safety and immunogenicity data and the findings from the first cohort were confirmed with regard to safety, infectivity and immunogenicity. rHPIV3
cp45 was found to be safe, well-tolerated, immunogenic and bioequivalent to the biologically-derived vaccine virus, but an interval of 1–2 months was determined to be insufficient to allow for reinfection and boosting of the immune response. In order to test whether a longer interval between doses would increase the infectivity of a second dose of vaccine, a second NIAID-sponsored study (ClinicalTrials. gov identifiers: NCT01021397 and NCT01254175) [
101] is currently enrolling seronegative children 6–36 months of age to evaluate the safety and immunogenicty of two doses of vaccine given 6 months apart. In addition to the above NIAID-sponsored studies. MedImmune has initiated a Phase I study evaluating the safety and immunogenicity of three doses of rHPIV3
cp45 given 2 months apart (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01150799) [
101,
65].