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Journal article

The design and analysis of seroefficacy studies for typhoid conjugate vaccines

Abstract:
Background Demonstrating efficacy of new Vi-conjugate typhoid vaccines is challenging due to the cost of field trials requiring tens of thousands of participants. New trial designs that use serologically-defined typhoid infections (seroefficacy trials) rather than blood culture positivity as a study endpoint may be useful to assess efficacy using small trials.

Methods We developed a model for Vi-IgG antibody response to a Vi-vaccine, decay over time, and natural boosting due to endemic exposures. From this we simulated clinical trials in which two blood samples were taken during follow-up, and the relative risk of serologically-defined typhoid infection (seroefficacy) was computed. We aimed to determine if seroefficacy trial designs could substantially reduce sample sizes compared with trials using blood-culture-confirmed cases; if case detection was higher in seroefficacy trials; and the optimal timing of sample collection.

Results The majority (>90%) of blood-culture-positive typhoid cases remain unobserved in surveillance studies. In contrast, underdetection in simulated seroefficacy trials of equivalent vaccines was as little as 26%, and estimates of the relative risk of typhoid infection were unbiased. For simulated trials of non-equivalent vaccines, relative risks were slightly inflated by at least 5% depending on sample collection times. Seroefficacy trials required as few as 460 participants per arm, compared with 10,000 per arm for trials using blood-culture-confirmed cases.

Conclusion Seroefficacy trials can establish the efficacy of new conjugate vaccines using small trials enrolling hundreds rather than thousands of participants, and without the need for resource-intensive typhoid fever surveillance programmes.
Publication status:
Published
Peer review status:
Peer reviewed

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Publisher copy:
10.1093/cid/ciy1119

Authors

More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
Medical Sciences Division
Department:
Paediatrics
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
Medical Sciences Division
Department:
Paediatrics
Oxford college:
St Cross College
Role:
Author
More by this author
Institution:
University of Oxford
Division:
MSD
Department:
Primary Care Health Sciences
Oxford college:
All Souls College
Role:
Author
ORCID:
0000-0001-6324-6559


Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Journal:
Clinical Infectious Diseases More from this journal
Volume:
68
Issue:
S2
Pages:
S183–S190
Publication date:
2019-03-07
Acceptance date:
2018-12-21
DOI:
EISSN:
1537-6591
ISSN:
1058-4838


Keywords:
Pubs id:
pubs:958210
UUID:
uuid:b3779381-3d04-46bf-a605-09bf624c417a
Local pid:
pubs:958210
Source identifiers:
958210
Deposit date:
2019-01-09
ARK identifier:

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