This aim of this study is to further develop a new way to study the bacteria that causes pharyngitis (strep throat). The scientific name for this bacterium is Streptococcus pyogenes and it is commonly known as Strep A. Strep A is a common type of bacteria that can cause various infections. These range from skin infections and strep throat to more serious conditions like rheumatic heart disease. In recent years there has been an increase in severe Strep A infections in most countries. Many of these cases have been reported in the news. Human challenge models are studies which allow researchers to study organisms that cause infections in humans. In this human challenge model study, healthy participants will be carefully exposed to a specific type of Strep A under controlled conditions to cause sore throat and learn more about how Strep A causes infection. The study team has already developed a safe human challenge model using a strain of Strep A called M75. This study will use a different strain of Strep A, called M1. The main goal of this study is to check if the procedure is safe for participants and to understand how the participant's body responds to M1 Strep A. The study will explore: 1. How much M1 Strep A is required to cause an infection. 2. How M1 Strep A grows in the body. 3. How the body reacts to M1 Strep A. The information the investigators will get about M1 Strep A from this study will help plan future research. It may also help in designing better studies to test vaccines against Strep A.
Streptococcus pyogenes infection is a major cause of death and disability globally, particularly in settings of disadvantage with a disproportionately high burden in Indigenous Australians and the Pacific region. Acute infections due to S. pyogenes range from very common superficial skin infections (\>150 million prevalent cases worldwide) and pharyngitis (\> 600 million incident cases) to life-threatening invasive disease (\>600,000 incident cases). Post-infectious sequelae of S. pyogenes include acute rheumatic fever (ARF, \~500,000 incident cases) leading to rheumatic heart disease (RHD) (\~40 million prevalent cases), and acute post-streptococcal glomerulonephritis (APSGN). The health services impact of S. pyogenes disease in all its forms is immense and strikes at every level from primary to intensive care, with associated direct and indirect costs (e.g. primary and hospital care, work and school absences, antibiotic use and misuse leading to antimicrobial resistance). A vaccine against S. pyogenes would be a global game changer and is the only plausible way to prevent S. pyogenes infections and sequelae. Efforts to control S. pyogenes-related disease through primary prevention have proved expensive and ineffective. Animal models of S. pyogenes disease have not delivered a vaccine. S. pyogenes-related disease is an important global driver of broad-spectrum antibiotic use leading to increased antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Multiple economic analyses have shown that a vaccine against S. pyogenes would be economically viable and result in enormous healthcare savings. The World Health Organization (WHO) recognises the need for a vaccine against S. pyogenes and has prioritised vaccine development as well as adopting a resolution to end ARF and RHD at the 2018 World Health Assembly. In the recent CHIVAS-M75 project, a diverse team of investigators developed the world's only modern S. pyogenes controlled human infection model (CHIM) using an M75 strain of S. pyogenes, following a careful and intensive approach to select and manufacture an initial challenge strain and produce a clinically relevant protocol to protect participants and maximise the model's strategic and scientific impact. M1 strains are the leading cause of S. pyogenes infections globally and have been the principal focus of decades of 'wet' and 'dry' laboratory research that underlies current understanding of host-pathogen interactions. In 2019 a new M1 clone was described in the UK (M1UK) which has now established global dominance. M1UK is associated with outbreaks of invasive disease and scarlet fever as well as pharyngitis. Having shown the safety and reliability of human challenge using M75, an emm-type that is a relatively uncommon cause of complicated S. pyogenes disease, the M1UK strain provides a unique opportunity to study a leading emm-type associated with increasing rates of complicated S. pyogenes disease. An M1UK CHIM used in a vaccine efficacy trial could demonstrate reduced rates of pharyngitis (the most clinically relevant endpoint) that would be expected to translate to protection against invasive disease and post-streptococcal complications.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
50
Human challenge with S. pyogenes M1UK strain MCRI0102
Doherty Clinical Trials Ltd
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
RECRUITINGThe proportion of participants at each dose level of M1 S. pyogenes who reach the study pharyngitis endpoint
The proportion of participants at each M1 S. pyogenes dose level who develop pharyngitis, using a combined clinical-microbiological definition comprising sore throat, physical examination signs of pharyngitis and tonsillitis, and microbiological confirmation of S. pyogenes by culture and nucleic acid amplification test of throat swabs
Time frame: Up to 5 days after the challenge dose of M1 S. pyogenes is administered
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