Vaccine against tuberculosis: what's new?

Area of Science:

• Immunology
• Vaccinology
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• The World Health Organization aimed to reduce tuberculosis incidence by 2015, but millions of cases persist, compounded by rising multidrug-resistant strains.
• The existing bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine offers protection against disseminated and meningeal tuberculosis in children but shows variable efficacy against pulmonary tuberculosis in adults.
• Achieving global tuberculosis control necessitates novel vaccine strategies beyond BCG.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review the landscape of emerging tuberculosis vaccines.
• To identify promising vaccine candidates in preclinical and clinical development.
• To assess the progress towards a more effective tuberculosis vaccine.

Main Methods:

• A systematic literature review was conducted using databases like PubMed.
• Searches included relevant article references and clinical trial registries (Aeras, ClinicalTrials.gov).

Main Results:

• The review analyzed 100 articles detailing various vaccine types.
• Candidates included three viral vectored booster vaccines, five protein adjuvant booster vaccines, two priming vaccines, and two therapeutic vaccines.

Conclusions:

• Multiple tuberculosis vaccine candidates are under development.
• Further basic research, clinical trials, and large-scale vaccination campaigns are required.
• Achieving the ambitious goal of tuberculosis eradication by 2050 depends on continued vaccine innovation and implementation.