Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) has scourged humankind for millennia, and latent infection affects nearly one-third of today's world population. The emergence of multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB is a major global threat and reflects treatment failure of drug-sensitive disease. MDR-TB management is a burden for patients and society; success rates are unacceptably low with prolonged treatment duration. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) possesses the ability to transform into a dormant state in which it can persist in the face of antimicrobial treatment and host defense. This sub-population of persisters is largely responsible for lengthy and difficult treatment. Targeting persistent bacilli could eventually improve the treatment success rate (currently 50-65 %) and shorten duration of treatment. A subset of therapies in the pipeline, termed therapeutic vaccines, use the host immune response to attack Mtb. The historical occurrence of an exacerbated host response has resulted in a negative perception of therapeutic vaccines. Thus, a renewed concept of immunotherapy is needed. We review current perspectives of immunotherapy in MDR-TB based on the knowledge of TB immunology and briefly discuss the profiles of several therapeutic vaccine products.
Original language | English |
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Journal | Medical Microbiology and Immunology |
Volume | 202 |
Issue number | 2 |
Pages (from-to) | 95-104 |
Number of pages | 10 |
ISSN | 0300-8584 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2013 |
Keywords
- Bacterial diseases
- Tuberculosis
- Mycobacterium tuberculosis
- Control
- Multidrug resistance
- Vaccines
- Therapeutics
- Immunotherapy
- Review of the literature