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Topic Name: A novel vaccine to prevent tuberculosis
Category: Biodesign
Research persons: Ian M. Orme,Dr Baolin Wang.
Location: C331 Microbiology Building,Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, United States
Details
A Colorado State
University research team has developed a novel vaccine to prevent tuberculosis,
one of the world's most deadly diseases. The vaccine triggers the body's
immunity in a novel way by activating specific immune system functions that
enhance the response to the bacterium that causes tuberculosis.Although in
preliminary stages of testing, the vaccine would likely be effective against all
strains of TB, including multi-drug and extensively drug resistant tuberculosis.
Vaccine has promise
of working after exposure
Preliminary evidence
shows that the vaccine has promise of working after exposure to tuberculosis,
which no other tuberculosis vaccine in current development has achieved. The
vaccine is designed to be relatively easy to produce, unlike many of the
vaccines under development.
"This novel
vaccine system provides the template to design a series of new tuberculosis
vaccines that could be very inexpensive to make," said Ian Orme, a
professor in the Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology Department at Colorado
State and head of the research team that developed the vaccine. "The next
stage is to test the vaccine for long-lasting immunity and its ability to boost
existing vaccines."
Human trials for the
vaccine could occur in two to three years.
Vaccine triggers
immune response by attaching to Toll receptors
The vaccine is produced
in a harmless bacterium that is closely related to the bacterium that causes
tuberculosis. The vaccine contains two key proteins from the tuberculosis
bacterium that are fused together. The vaccine triggers the immune response by
attaching to specific receptors, called Toll receptors, on the surface of immune
cells. These receptors are only responsible for recognizing tuberculosis and
don't play a role in recognizing other diseases; other vaccines do not target
the immune system so specifically. This protects the body from subsequent
exposure to TB infection.
"We have exploited
new knowledge about how Toll receptors function in terms of how they turn on the
immune response to develop an entirely novel way to approach tuberculosis
vaccine design. This new approach could be adapted to multiple bacterial
proteins we know are recognized by the immune response in people infected with
this disease," Orme said.
"Usually, creating
a vaccine involves two materials - the vaccine itself and a delivery agent
called an 'adjuvant.' Adjuvants are often a complex mixture of chemicals that
push the immune response to the vaccine. The problem here is that such mixtures
are often fairly expensive to make. However, by building a vaccine that contains
its own built-in 'natural' adjuvant, the Colorado State team was able to show
that this vaccine did not need the additional chemical formulations for it to be
effective."
Research collaborators
at Colorado State's Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology Department, part of
Colorado State University's College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical
Sciences, include Dr. Baolin Wang, a visiting scientist from Shanghai, and Dr.
Marcela Henao-Tamayo, a graduate student from Columbia.
Tuberculosis is
spread through the air
Tuberculosis, once
called consumption, is spread through the air when someone who is infected
coughs or sneezes, and by sharing eating utensils.
Tuberculosis causes two
million deaths worldwide and is the second most deadly infectious disease in the
world, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Eight million new cases
occur each year, and a growing number of people around the globe, including in
the United States, are becoming infected with strains of the disease that are
resistant to drugs, including strains that are resistant to multiple drugs.
Multi-drug resistant
TB is up to 10 times more expensive to treat
Multi-drug resistant
tuberculosis is up to 10 times more expensive to treat than infections that
respond to traditional treatments, and patients with resistance often need
treatment for three or more years. Side-effects of treatments can cause nausea,
fatigue and impaired vision.
In addition,
drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis have been identified by the National
Institutes of Health as pathogens that could be intentionally introduced into
population as a biological weapon.
CSU is a world
leader in tuberculosis drug and vaccine research
Colorado State is one
of the very few screening centers in the world searching for new drugs or
vaccines that might be effective against tuberculosis, including strains that
have developed resistance to current treatments. The university, which currently
houses more than 100 faculty, staff and students researching tuberculosis, is a
world leader in basic science leading to new preventive vaccines and medical
treatments for the disease.
Tuberculosis is a focus
of Colorado State University's MicroRx, a first-of-its-kind enterprise to speed
the transition of life-saving research on infectious diseases from the academic
world into the global marketplace. MicroRx, unveiled in February, is just the
first of the university's Superclusters - alliances of academic researchers,
economists and business experts designed to encourage collaboration and bridge
the vastly different worlds of business and academia.
Since the 1960s,
Colorado State University has engaged in infectious disease research and today
is a world leader in researching vaccines, diagnostic tests, medications and
ways to prevent the spread of infectious disease.
About Researcher:
Ian M. Orme
Professo,Phone: 491-5777
Fax: 491-1815
Email: Ian.Orme@colostate.edu
Office: C331 Microbiology Building
Dr Baolin
Wang.
baoling.wang@aeromech.usyd.edu.au
Funded:
Colorado State's
Foothills Campus, a global complex devoted to infectious disease research, is
supported by more than $200 million in research funds from entities including the
National Health Institute, Centers
for Disease Control, NASA, Department of Homeland Security and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
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