[Immunology of tuberculosis and current status of vaccine development]

Even 125 year after the discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the aetiological agent of tuberculosis by Robert Koch, tuberculosis is still a global health emergency according to WHO. The high infection rate with M. tuberculosis that persists in the human host until a weakened host immune system allows a reactivation and complicated and expensive antituberculous chemotherapy urgently demand the development of new vaccines. Increasing numbers of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, especially in the successor states of the former Soviet Union and China, further complicate an efficient tuberculosis control. For decades, there was no new release of an antituberculous drug to efficiently fight tuberculosis. Hence, also drug development has to keep up with the development of resistance by the pathogen. The following review describes the immune response to M. tuberculosis infection and the deduction of strategies for novel vaccines. Thanks to international financial support, several new vaccine candidates are already in the pipeline and close to clinical testing phases.