November 11, 2004

BIRMINGHAM, AL — The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) has received a five-year, $12 million contract from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, to study genetic factors that influence how well individuals respond to the anthrax vaccine.

“This research will provide valuable information about individual differences in immune response and in adverse reactions to the anthrax vaccine. Hopefully, it will help explain differences seen with other immunizing agents and diseases of immunity as well,” said Dr. Richard Kaslow, professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health at UAB.

The new investigation will rely heavily on information gathered from an ongoing study of the anthrax vaccine under way at several medical research institutions, including UAB. The anthrax vaccine trial, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is aimed at determining whether the vaccine is equally safe and effective when injected into muscle rather than under the skin and following a different dosing schedule.

The vaccine study has enrolled more than 1,500 volunteers who agreed to be vaccinated. “Of those, we’re hoping to recruit 1,000 to 1,100 participants for the new population genetics investigation,” Kaslow said. “Volunteers will be asked for a blood sample and for access to information gathered during the vaccine study. We also expect to recruit about 1,000 additional, unvaccinated individuals for related studies.”

Vaccination against anthrax has proven somewhat controversial because of the requirement for multiple doses over an 18-month period and because of adverse reactions, usually redness and tenderness at the site of the injection. The vaccine study aims to improve how the vaccine is given.

“But we also need to better understand how different individuals respond and why their responses may differ,” Kaslow said. “Hopefully, our work will give us greater insight into the way the vaccine works and the role of genetics in determining response.”

Little research relative to vaccine response and genetics has been done. “At this point we know only a few of the very large number of genes involved in controlling immune response,” Kaslow said. “It’s difficult to predict what we will find as we probe further.”

The study, funded under the Population Genetics Analysis Program: Immunity to Vaccines/Infections, is part of an international effort to investigate vaccine response. UAB is one of six institutions participating in the research program. In addition to Kaslow, a number of other scientists at UAB and elsewhere, including Dr. Robert Kimberly, UAB professor of medicine and co-principal investigator, are part of the new genetics research team.

The vaccine study under way at UAB is led by Dr. Scott Parker, assistant professor of medicine.