Effects of MVA85A vaccine on tuberculosis

A new systematic review of animal studies testing a vaccine for tuberculosis raises questions about whether the studies provided sufficient evidence to move into trials of children. The new vaccine was a virus-expressing antigen 85A (MVA85A) designed to boost the immunity offered by the existing Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine which has little protective effect in practice. The review, published in the International Journal Epidemiology, evaluates the animal evidence that contributed to the decision to conduct human studies. LSTM’s Professor Paul Garner is the senior author on the review, and coordinating editor at the Cochrane Infectious Diseases Group. Working along with colleagues at the University of Edinburgh and South Africa, the team included data from studies where animals were given the MVA85A booster with BCG and then exposed to a TB challenge, and compared their outcome with that in animals receiving BCG alone. The team identified eight studies published up to September 2014,...