Recent findings in immunology give tuberculosis vaccines a new boost

Abstract

Tuberculosis remains a major health threat, solved by neither chemotherapy nor the current vaccine, BCG. Although a new generation of vaccine candidates is ready for field trials, further improvements will be required. A successful vaccination regime must stimulate memory T cells and, at the same time, avoid exhaustion of memory and suppression by regulatory mechanisms. The most probable scenario is priming with one vaccine candidate followed by boosting with a another vaccine candidate. For clinical trials, biomarkers need to be defined with T cells alternating between lung and periphery as prime indicator cells.