Scientists find candidate for new TB vaccine

Scientists have discovered a protein secreted by tuberculosis (TB) bacteria that could be a promising new vaccine candidate, as reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The protein could also be used to improve diagnosis of TB. There are nine million new cases of TB each year, killing 4,700 people a day worldwide. BCG is the only available vaccine but it is of limited effectiveness in protecting against TB. BCG derives from the Mycobacterium bovis bacterium, which infects cattle and is closely related to MTB. In the new study, scientists identified a protein, called EspC, that triggers a stronger immune response in people infected with the TB bacterium than any other known molecule. This protein is secreted by the TB bacterium but not by the BCG vaccine. As a result, the BCG vaccine does not induce an immune response to this protein, so deploying it as a new TB vaccine...