Local research renews hopes of finding new TB vaccines
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Loading... - Ole Quincy
- 31 Jan 2023
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For years vaccine developers have struggled to outsmart the tuberculosis germ M. tuberculosis due to its protective power against infection killer cells, known as T-cells, and due to lack of animal models that adequately reflect the human diverse response to the germ.
So far the only TB vaccine is the 100-year old Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), which offers limited protection and protects infants against severe forms of TB.
But local researchers from the University of Cape Town-based South African Tuberculosis Vaccine Initiative (SATVI), are optimistic they may have made a breakthrough that will pave a way for a new vaccine development that may outmanoeuvre the complex bacteria.
Together with researchers from US-based Stanford University, they have used cutting-edge experimental approaches and sequenced a diverse set of T-cell receptors that recognise the TB germ in infected individuals.
T-cells are an essential component of the immune system, which can detect human cells infected with bacteria or viruses and either destroy these infected cells or help them control the infection.
To recognise such infected cells, T-cells use receptors that recognise small protein fragments from the germ.
During the two-year study, researchers were able to identify differences in the immune response against TB between those who controlled infection (remained healthy) and those who developed TB disease (progressors).
Among the 30,000 TB T-cells identified researchers discovered a subset of T-cells that were associated with study participants who controlled infection and progressors (those who got sick). Read More…
