Helen McShane

Helen McShane is Professor of Vaccinology at Oxford University, Nuffield Department of Medicine;

• Director, Oxford NIHR Biomedical Research Centre
• Deputy Head, Medical Sciences Division
• Honorary Consultant Physician

She leads the TB vaccine programme at Oxford University and is working on a BCG challenge model. MVA85A, the original new TB vaccine developed at Oxford and made by Dr McShane during her PhD, was the first new TB vaccine to enter into clinical trials in 2002.

Since 2002, her group has conducted a series of clinical trials in the UK, The Gambia, South Africa, Senegal and Uganda, to investigate the safety, immunogenicity and efficacy of candidate TB vaccines, including MVA85A (recombinant modified vaccinia Ankara expressing antigen 85A) and ChAdOx1 85A (chimp adenovirus expressing antigen 85A) (both developed at the Jenner), and a number of industry partners’ vaccines. MVA85A and ChAdOx1 85A are used as boost vaccines for BCG-primed subjects; heterologous prime-boost vaccination regimens provide an effective way to induce high levels of cellular immunity, while the inclusion of BCG in a new regimen allows the retention of the protective effects of BCG in childhood against severe disease. Both vaccines have been shown to be safe and immunogenic in healthy adult volunteers. MVA85A has been further studied in M.tb latently infected individuals, and HIV-infected individuals, and the vaccine is safe and immunogenic in these groups. Successful healthy adult clinical trials were followed by age de-escalation studies that demonstrated safety in children and infants.