New approach to a TB vaccine

A team of U.S. and European researchers have found that a new vaccine strategy tested in mice provides stronger, more long-lasting protection from tuberculosis (TB) infection than the vaccine currently used in humans, known as BCG. Their findings were published online in the journal. Caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), TB remains one of the major causes of disability and death worldwide, with an estimated 1.7 million deaths in 2009 and increasing rates of drug-resistant disease. The BCG vaccine, the only one approved for human use, provides some protection against initial TB illness but does not prevent latent infection, in which Mtb persists in human cells for years and may later develop into active disease. In this study, the researchers combined two proteins previously found to improve the BCG vaccine’s effectiveness with a new component, a stress response protein that mice produce throughout the TB infection process. This three-component vaccine, known as H56, was...