A Phase 1 Dose Escalation Study to Examine the Safety of the P2-VP8 Rotavirus Vaccine

P2-VP8 subunit rotavirus vaccine was made by inserting a codon optimized synthetic gene for the VP8 region of rotavirus VP4 fused to the P2 T-cell epitope of tetanus toxin into the Pj411 proprietary cloning vector developed by DNA 2.0, Menlo Park, CA. The vector carries a kanamycin resistance gene as a selection marker. The vector was transfected into the BL21 strain of E. coli. The fusion protein was purified from Isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG)-induced and physically lysed cultures using standard column chromatographic techniques employing Q-Sepharose and Butyl 650 as resins in addition to ultrafiltration and diafiltration.

Sodium Chloride 0.9%, USP for Injection was used to dilute the active P2-VP8 vaccine to final dosing concentration and was used for the Placebo for the study.