The pilot study goes to the next round

In June of this year, at the University Hospital Tübingen, under the direction of Professor Julian Walz in Translational Immunology KKE in the medical clinic, the clinical trial of an in-house developed vaccine against Sars-Cov-2, a peptide vaccine that stimulates defense by T cells, was carried out. . The idea for the newly developed vaccine comes from cancer immunotherapy, which is one of the main research areas of the immunologists in Tübingen. For many years, the team surrounding Professor Hans-Georg Rasmy has been working on the development of so-called peptide vaccines.

This vaccine was developed in Tübingen specifically for people with immunodeficiency. The current results show that sufferers often do not develop adequate protection from vaccination with the currently approved vaccines. This is especially observed in people with immunoglobulin deficiency, including patients with congenital immunodeficiency and cancer patients. Clinical trials of this peptide vaccine (dubbed: CoVac-1) are now entering phase two, now that it has been shown that “with good tolerance, highly effective activation of the T-cell response against Cov-2 virus can be demonstrated,” say the researchers. Professor Walz’s working group has demonstrated in numerous scientific publications that T cells play an important role in COVID-19 disease.

Participants wanted

Participation is open to patients with congenital or acquired B-cell defects or antibody deficiencies. This particularly includes people with leukemia or lymphoma who have developed so-called immunoglobulin deficiency due to their disease or treatment. The study includes a screening appointment, a vaccination appointment, and six follow-up appointments over a six-month period. Those interested in participating in the study can learn more at: www.medizin.uni-tuebingen.de/go/covac-1-studieE-Mail: [email protected]