THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A VACCINE DELIVERY SYSTEM WHICH WILL STIMULATE, RAPIDLY, A STATE OF NON-SPECIFIC PROTECTION WHILE IT ENHANCES THE SPECIFIC IMMUNE RESPONSE TO THE VACCINE AND SHORTENS THE INDUCTION PERIOD FOR DEVELOPMENT OF

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A VACCINE DELIVERY SYSTEM WHICH WILL STIMULATE, RAPIDLY, A STATE OF NON-SPECIFIC PROTECTION WHILE IT ENHANCES THE SPECIFIC IMMUNE RESPONSE TO THE VACCINE AND SHORTENS THE INDUCTION PERIOD FOR DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFIC IMMUNITY. THIS WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED BY PREPARING THE VACCINE IN AN OILIN-WATER EMULSION THAT CONTAINS NON-TOXIC IMMUNOSTIMULATORS OF MICROBIAL ORIGIN. BOTH SPECIFIC AND NON-SPECIFIC PROTECTION WILL BE TESTED AGAINST A MURINE MODEL OF INFLUENZA VIRUS INFECTION. THE HUMORAL ANTIBODY RESPONSES OF THE MICE WILL ALSO BE FOLLOWED TO ASSESS THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE DELIVERY SYSTEM. EXPERIMENTAL REGIMENS WILL BE ESTABLISHED TO MEASURE THE CAPACITY OF THE DELIVERY VEHICLE ALONE, WITHOUT THE SPECIFIC VACCINE, TO PROTECT MICE NONSPECIFICALLY AGAINST AN AEROSOL CHALLENGE OF INFLUENZA VIRUS. THE KINETICS OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS PROTECTION AS WELL AS THOSE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF SPECIFIC IMMUNITY WILL ALSO BE ASSESSED. FINALLY, A COMPARISON WILL BE MADE BETWEEN THE MINIMAL AMOUNT OF VACCINE, WITH AND WITHOUT IMMUNOSTIMULATORS, REQUIRED TO ENGENDER SPECIFIC PROTECTION. IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT DATA FROM THESE EXPERIMENTS WILL PROVIDE A FOUNDATION AND A RATIONALE FOR AN EXPANDED PHASE II PROJECT WHICH WILL INCLUDE CLINICAL TRIALS OF THESE AMMUNOSTIMULATORS IN HUMANS.