Seg\u00fan estudios recientes citados en la revista Science, muchas vacunas, incluidas las vacunas contra la gripe, las paperas y otras enfermedades, pueden perder su eficacia m\u00e1s r\u00e1pido de lo que sugieren las recomendaciones oficiales de inmunizaci\u00f3n.\u00a0DARPA ha seleccionado equipos de investigadores para apoyar el programa Assessing Immune Memory (AIM), que busca desarrollar una herramienta de investigaci\u00f3n y evaluaci\u00f3n que pueda predecir con anticipaci\u00f3n si una determinada vacuna candidata proporcionar\u00e1 una protecci\u00f3n inmunol\u00f3gica duradera.<\/p>\n
According to recent studies cited in\u00a0Science Magazine<\/em>, many vaccines \u2014 including those for flu, mumps and other diseases \u2014 may lose their effectiveness faster than official immunization recommendations suggest1<\/sup>. DARPA has selected teams of researchers to support the Assessing Immune Memory (AIM) program, which seeks to develop a research and evaluation tool that can predict early on whether a given vaccine candidate will provide long-lasting immune protection.<\/p>\n Warfighters must deploy to regions of the world that present immunological challenges due to endemic diseases not previously encountered, or where there are pathogens or biothreats for which there are no vaccine options. The ability to rapidly select a future vaccine candidate that offers the longest duration of immune protection among all the potential options would greatly enhance operational readiness. By leveraging host-immune mechanisms in response to vaccination, AIM intends to provide the Department of Defense with the capability to predict effective vaccine duration of response prior to engaging in years-long clinical studies.<\/p>\n \u201cThe current state of vaccine durability assessment is to take a \u2018wait-and-see\u2019 approach, largely owing to ignorance of mechanisms underlying immune memory, as well as an inability to measure the cellular contributors that invoke long-lasting immune protection,\u201d noted Dr. Michael Feasel, AIM program manager. \u201cAIM will take a systems-level view of the response to vaccination and explore the mechanisms that lead to long-lasting protection. The plan is that this will then be implemented as a tool to predict vaccine duration of protection without waiting years for clinical trial results.\u201d<\/p>\n AIM is a five-year program that is divided into two sequential phases. The goal of Phase 1, \u201cImmune Memory Road Map,\u201d is to identify cell and signaling contributors to generate a \u201croad map\u201d of immune memory. Phase 2, \u201cRoad Map Generalizability and Tool Validation,\u201d will focus on assembling and validating an accurate assessment tool. The varied approaches will utilize measurements from preclinical animal models and advanced computational techniques with a goal to establish a way to predict how long a vaccine may protect a person, without needing to wait years for clinical trials.<\/p>\n The selected performers include:<\/p>\n Additional details on the AIM program can be found in the broad agency announcement:\u00a0https:\/\/sam.gov\/opp\/ddbd04d4961f49acb576c529f837af93\/view<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n