[The development of novel vaccines against tuberculosis]

We have developed a novel tuberculosis (TB) vaccine ; a combination of the DNA vaccines expressing mycobacterial heat shock protein 65 (HSP65) and interleukin 12 (IL-12) delivered by the hemagglutinating virus of Japan (HVJ)-liposome or-envelope (HSP65+IL-12/HVJ). This vaccine provided remarkable protective efficacy in mouse and guinea pig models compared to the BCG vaccine, on the basis of an induction of the CD8 positive CTL activity against TB antigens and improvement of the histopathological tuberculosis lesions, respectively. The Elispot assay showed that HSP65+IL-12 DNA/ HVJ vaccine induced a greater number of IFN-gamma producing T cells than BCG in the mouse model. Furthermore, we extended our studies to a cynomolgus monkey model, which is currently the best animal model of human tuberculosis. This novel vaccine provided a higher level of the protective efficacy than BCG based upon the assessment of mortality, the ESR, body weight, chest X-ray findings and immune responses (IFN-gamma, IL-2, IL-6 production , and lymphocyte proliferation of cynomolgus monkey). The combination of HSP65+IL-12/HVJ and BCG by the priming-booster method showed a synergistic effect in the TB-infected cynomolgus monkey (100% survival). In contrast, 33% of monkeys from BCG Tokyo alone group were alive (33% survival). These data indicate that our novel DNA vaccine might be useful against Mycobacterium tuberculosis for human clinical trials.