Australian researchers complete successful test of new TB vaccine

Researchers from the Centenary Institute and the University of Sydney in Australia have created and tested a new vaccine type that provides substantial protection against tuberculosis (TB), following more than five years of work and research.

The test was a preclinical run using mouse models and raises hope against a disease that kills around 1.6 million people each year. It is an advanced synthetic vaccine, which takes two small proteins typically found in tuberculosis bacteria, binds them tightly to a stimulant and, not unlike jumpstarting a car, kicks the immune response in the lungs back into working order.

“We were then able to show that when this vaccine was inhaled into the lungs, it stimulated the type of T cells known to protect against TB. Importantly, we then demonstrated that this type of vaccine could successfully protect against experimental airborne TB infection,” Dr. Anneliese Ashhurst, co-lead author of the study, said.

This effort also differs from the existing TB vaccine, which is meant only for infants, in that the new vaccine has a broader audience.

“The important thing is that the vaccine actually gets to the lungs because that’s where you first see TB,” said Warwick Britton, head of the Centenary Institute Tuberculosis Research Program and co-senior researcher on the project. “Ultimately, we would love to see a form of this vaccine available for use in an easily inhaled nasal spray which would provide life-long TB protection. Although this outcome is still many years away, we are certainly heading in the right direction. Our next steps will be to determine if our synthetic vaccine can be developed into a form suitable for use in humans.”