A Study to Assess the Safety of HIV and Hep C Vaccine Candidates When Given Separately or in Combination

Hepatitis C and HIV are both widespread pathogens. By the end of 2010, there were 2.3 million people in Europe living with HIV, over half of whom were coinfected with the Hepatitis C virus (HCV). Although vaccination is the optimal method of preventing infection, it has proved extremely difficult to develop an effective vaccine against HIV and HCV due to the enormous variation in strains around the world. This is caused by the extraordinary ability of the viruses to change their genetic material. Researchers at the University of Oxford have developed novel candidate vaccines against HIV ('HIV.consv') and HCV ('NSmut'). These vaccines have been inserted into the carrier viruses Chimpanzee Adenovirus (ChAd or AdCh) and modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA), both of which have excellent safety records. The aim of this study is to test for the first time the response of the immune system when vaccines to both HIV and HCV are given together. During this study, 32 healthy adults aged 18 to 50 years will be recruited into one of three groups to receive either two or four intramuscular injections over a period of two months. All participants will be followed up for a further six months (12 visits in total).