The future of tuberculosis vaccinology

Thole, Jelle; Griffin, Ruth; Young, Douglas

Abstract

© 2006 by Taylor and Francis Group, LLC. The outcome of infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis is crucially dependent on the immune response of the host. Most individuals mount a response that is sufficient to prevent progression to disease but may allow persistence of viable bacteria in the form of a latent infection. Around 10% of individuals exposed toM. tuberculosis develop clinical tuberculosis (TB), either as a result of failure to control the initial infection or due to reinfection or reactivation of latent infection (1). This secondary disease pathway highlights a major challenge for TB vaccines. The hallmark of the adaptive immune system is its ability to learn from an initial infection how to mount a rapid and effective response when reexposed to the same pathogen. Classically, vaccination mimics the learning process associated with natural infection. Development of secondary disease in individuals who had contained a primary infection with M. tuberculosis shows that the robust learning process seen for a disease like smallpox does not always occur for TB (1). Similarly, individuals who have been cured of TB remain susceptible to reinfection and further disease (2).

Citation

Thole, J., Griffin, R., & Young, D. (2009). The future of tuberculosis vaccinology. In M. C. Raviglione (Ed.), Tuberculosis: the essentials. (4th edition). Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.3109/9781420090239

• Acceptance Date: Feb 1, 2009
• Online Publication Date: Apr 19, 2016
• Publication Date: Nov 18, 2009
• Deposit Date: Dec 13, 2017
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Issue: 237
• Series Title: Lung biology in health and disease
• Series Number: 237
• Edition: 4th edition
• Book Title: Tuberculosis: the essentials
• ISBN: 9781420090215
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.3109/9781420090239
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/705728
• Publisher URL: https://www.crcpress.com/Tuberculosis-The-Essentials-Fourth-Edition/Raviglione/p/book/9781420090215