Recent Progresses in Immune Cell Therapy for Tuberculosis

Tuberculosis (TB) remains a leading cause of global mortality. Its prevention and control face major challenges, including a large latent infection reservoir, high transmissibility, complex treatment protocols, rising drug-resistant TB (notably multidrug-resistant TB, MDR-TB), and comorbidities. MDR-TB has severely undermined conventional pharmacotherapy, with suboptimal global treatment success rates. Thus, novel strategies are urgently needed to accelerate elimination of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and shorten treatment duration. Immune cell-based therapies, acting through multiple targeted mechanisms, align well with the complex demands of TB treatment. When integrated with advanced technologies such as genetic engineering and nanotechnology, immunotherapy holds substantial promise for developing novel regimens. This review systematically delineates major immune cell types involved and their mechanisms of action, critically assesses current technical bottlenecks, and explores future innovative directions. It also critically evaluates recent encouraging clinical trials in TB immunotherapy. Collectively, these efforts aim to establish a robust theoretical and practical translational framework, overcome existing limitations, accelerate clinical translation of immune cell-based therapies, provide new options for patients, and advance the field toward personalized and precision medicine.