Objective
Programme EVA (European Vaccine against AIDS) was launched in July 1989 with the twin objectives of supplying high quality research reagents to support European efforts aimed at developing safe and effective vaccines against AIDS and promoting collaborative European research projects towards vaccine development through initiating a dialogue between various research groups within the EC and COST countries.
The European Vaccine against acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) programme (EVA) was launched in July 1989 with the twin objectives of supplying high quality research reagents to support European efforts aimed at developing safe and effective vaccines against AIDS and promoting collaborative European research projects towards vaccine development. Development and evaluation of AIDS vaccine require carefully controlled experiments in animal models. Since its inception, the EVA programme has focused attention on simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) in monkeys since, in this model, a disease that closely resembles human AIDS is produced. A large multicentre collaborative SIV vaccine trial involving 9 laboratories in 6 European countries was carried out using a large batch of purified virus and other reagents provided by Programme EVA. The trial demonstrated that a strong protective immune response against both homologous and heterologous SIV grown in human cells could be generated by both whole, inactivated and subunit vaccines with a range of different adjuvants in both rhesus and cynomologous macaques. When these protected animals were rechallenged with cell free SIV grown in simian cells, all the vaccinees became infected, although 4 out of 8 animals challenged with cell associated SIV remained protected. These unexpected findings along with other related studies indicate that non-virus specific cellular antigens acquired during the growth of SIV in human cells may be contributing significantly to the protective immune response. Other work supported by the Programme includes the development of a primate challenge virus stock, the evaluation of virus derived native envelope glycoprotein as a vaccine immunogen, the provision of reagents for studies on HIV variation and work on defective viruses as attenuated vaccines.
The spread of HIV infection and AIDS presents one of the most pressing public health problems in the world today. The WHO has estimated that by the end of 1993, over 15 million people world-wide have been infected with HIV. In European countries the epidemic has also continued to spread, with 103,000 AIDS cases currently reported and an estimated 500,000 people infected with the virus. Health education approaches can play a role in preventing the spread of AIDS, but in many communities this is likely to have limited impact. On the other hand, the development of a safe, effective and easily administered prophylactic vaccine for large-scale use in at-risk individuals and communities would make a major contribution towards curtailing the epidemic.
HIV presents a particular challenge for vaccine design since the virus can exist in a latent form and may mutate rapidly thereby escaping immune surveillance. Animal challenge experiments combined with detailed studies of the immune responses in challenge animals are essential in order to provide the key information necessary for the design of a safe and effective HIV vaccine, AIDS vaccine development is still at an early stage: the HIV antigens required to induce a protective immune response have not yet been identified, the immunological basis for protection has not been established and the significance of virus variation for vaccine development has not been fully explored. High quality academic research in immunology and virology is required to answer these questions before industry can usefully embark on major vaccine development programmes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- medical and health sciences health sciences public health
- natural sciences biological sciences microbiology virology
- medical and health sciences basic medicine immunology
- medical and health sciences health sciences infectious diseases RNA viruses HIV
- medical and health sciences basic medicine pharmacology and pharmacy pharmaceutical drugs vaccines
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
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Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Coordinator
EN6 3QG Potters Bar
United Kingdom
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.