 |
|
Groundbreaking, lifesaving TB vaccine a step closer
October 08, 2008Researchers at Aberystwyth University, following a number of years of investment by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), have licensed ground-breaking research to a non-profit product development partnership working to develop new, more effective vaccines against Tuberculosis (TB). This development will give hope that significantly better prevention and treatment of TB will be available within the next few years.
The Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation, which was founded to develop new, cost-effective TB vaccines for use in the developing world, has licensed a discovery of a protein that is able to 'wake up' dormant Mycobacterium tuberculosis bacteria that cause TB. The research and the fundamental knowledge that came out of it could be used to develop a vaccine that either stops infecting TB bacteria from taking hold or, for the one in every three people world-wide who are already carrying a latent TB infection, prevents dormant bacteria from 'waking up'. Another possible strategy could be to deliberately 'wake up' dormant bacteria in a controlled way so they can be destroyed with antibiotics.
In the late 1990s, researchers funded by BBSRC discovered a new family of proteins that were able to resuscitate bacteria found harmlessly in and around the human body. When 'awoken' from dormancy the bacteria were then much more susceptible to attack from antibiotics. The team led by Professors Mike Young and Doug Kell at Aberystwyth University together with Prof Arseny Kaprelyants of the Bakh Institute of Biochemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, identified the gene in the bacterium that produced the protein and went on to discover the corresponding genes in M. tuberculosis. This research has now been licensed by Aeras after years of development. Aeras plans to take its recombinant BCG (AERAS-407) vaccine, based in part on the Aberystwyth work, to clinical trial in 2009.
Prof Young, now based in Aberystwyth University's newly formed Institute of Biological, Rural and Environmental Studies, said: "Current TB treatments can go on for over six months and can still leave bacteria in the body that can cause the disease when they resume active growth and multiplication. Our discovery, which is now being developed into a vaccine, might help prevent the establishment of persistent infections in the first place or, alternatively, it might prevent persisting organisms in individuals with latent TB from reawakening at all.
"TB kills around 1.7 million people around the world every year. I hope that our research will now be rapidly translated into a vaccine that can help as many of these people as possible."
Dr Alf Game, BBSRC Deputy Director of Research, said: "This discovery came out of research in the basic biology of a different bacterium. It shows that we need to strive to understand the fundamental workings of the world around us and from that we can identify how to tackle challenges, such as dangerous diseases, that we all face."
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Prof Young, now based in Aberystwyth University's newly formed Institute of Biological, Rural and Environmental Studies, said: "Current TB treatments can go on for over six months and can still leave bacteria in the body that can cause the disease when they resume active growth and multiplication. Our discovery, which is now being developed into a vaccine, might help prevent the establishment of persistent infections in the first place or, alternatively, it might prevent persisting organisms in individuals with latent TB from reawakening at all.
"TB kills around 1.7 million people around the world every year. I hope that our research will now be rapidly translated into a vaccine that can help as many of these people as possible."
Dr Alf Game, BBSRC Deputy Director of Research, said: "This discovery came out of research in the basic biology of a different bacterium. It shows that we need to strive to understand the fundamental workings of the world around us and from that we can identify how to tackle challenges, such as dangerous diseases, that we all face."
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Tuberculosis Current Events and Tuberculosis News RSSMay hepatic granulomas be part of the histological spectrum of chronic hepatitis C?
While older large series of patients with hepatic granulomas have found sarcoidosis and tuberculosis to be the most common causes of hepatic granulomas, recent works have noted some patients with chronic hepatic C and hepatic granulomas and no other obvious associations.
Blocking the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria
It's as simple as A, T, G, C. Northwestern University scientists have exploited the Watson-Crick base pairing of DNA to provide a defensive tool that could be used to fight the spread of antibiotic resistance in bacteria -- one of the world's most pressing public health problems.
Researchers identify new leprosy bacterium
A new species of bacterium that causes leprosy has been identified through intensive genetic analysis of a pair of lethal infections, a research team reports in the December issue of the American Journal of Clinical Pathology.
Stopping germs from ganging up on humans
Keeping germs from cooperating can delay the evolution of drug resistance more effectively than killing germs one by one with traditional drugs such as antibiotics, according to new research from The University of Arizona in Tucson.
First trachea transplant without immunosuppression
After 4 years of going from consultation to consultation, Claudia Castillo finally found a solution to her respiratory problems. The young Colombian woman suffered from a cough that took a long time to be diagnosed as tuberculosis.
Proteomics Study Yields Clues As To How Tuberculosis Might Be Thwarting The Immune System
A link between the immune system and the self-cleaning system by which biological cells rid themselves of obsolete or toxic parts may one day yield new weapons in the fight against tuberculosis and other deadly infectious diseases.
XDR-TB: Deadlier and more mysterious than ever
New research has found that XDR-TB is increasingly common and more deadly than previously known. Extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) is a growing public health threat that is only just beginning to be understood by medical and public health officials.
Tibotec presents interim findings for TMC435, an investigational genotype 1 hepatitis C treatment
New clinical data show antiviral activity of TMC435, an investigational protease inhibitor (PI) being developed by Tibotec BVBA for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection.
Parasites that live inside cells use loophole to thwart immune system
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have discovered a mechanism by which intracellular pathogens can shut down one of the body's key chemical weapons against them: nitric oxide.
Persistent bacterial infection exploits killing machinery of immune cells
A new study reveals an important and newly discovered pathway used by disease-causing bacteria to evade the host immune system and survive and grow within the very cells meant to destroy them. This discovery may lead to new treatments and vaccines for tuberculosis (TB) and certain other chronic bacterial and parasitic infections.
More Tuberculosis Current Events and Tuberculosis News Articles
 | Tuberculosis and the Politics of Exclusion: A History of Public Health and Migration to Los Angeles (Critical Issues in Health and Medicine) by Emily K. Abel Though notorious for its polluted air today, the city of Los Angeles once touted itself as a health resort. After the arrival of the transcontinental railroad in 1876, publicists launched a campaign to portray the city as the promised land, circulating countless stories of miraculous cures for the sick and debilitated. As more and more migrants poured in, however, a gap emerged between... |
 | The Forgotten Plague: How the Battle Against Tuberculosis Was Won - And Lost by Frank Ryan Tuberculosis has claimed more than a billion lives worldwide. In this acclaimed book, Dr. Frank Ryan tells the remarkable story of the dedicated doctors, chemists, and bacteriologists who halted the course of this ferocious disease--until the "old enemy" found in AIDS a deadly ally to form a drug-resistant synergy. 8 pages of... |
| Clinician's Guide to Tuberculosis (Clinician's Guide to Tuberculosis (Iseman)) by Michael D. Iseman Univ. of Colorado, Denver. Clinical synopsis providing essential information for those unfamiliar with the disease. Addresses the problem of managing HIV-positive patients and drug-resistant strains. Discusses, basic science, epidemiology, transmission, vaccination, and prevention. Includes tables, references, and illustrations. Softcover. DNLM:... | |
 | The Bioarchaeology of Tuberculosis: A Global View on a Reemerging Disease by CHARLOTTE ROBERTS, JANE BUIKSTRA Though apparently in decline during the first half of the 20th century, tuberculosis has reawakened in both developed and developing countries, particularly among susceptible populations with immunodeficiency disorders.... |
 | Clinical Tuberculosis (A Hodder Arnold Publication) by Peter D Davies, Peeter Barnes, Stephen B Gordon Clinical Tuberculosis remains an indispensable resource for respiratory physicians, infectious disease specialists, public health workers and other individuals involved in the management and control of tuberculosis worldwide. This established reference is a comprehensive accoutn of tuberculosis, providing up-to-date and authoritative information on all aspects of the disease. It gives practical... |
 | The Return of the White Plague: Global Poverty and the 'New' Tuberculosis The dramatic increase since the 1980s in the global prevalence of tuberculosis, a disease destined as recently as thirty years ago for complete eradication, is a story of medical failure. A pandemic whose geography defies simple categorization—it ranges from schools in the UK to prisons in Russia, from refugee camps in central Africa to affluent suburbs in North America—the 'new' tuberculosis... |
 | Handbook of Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), a deadly airborne disease caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, takes the lives of almost 2 million people each year and is considered to be the most common infectious disease in the world. However, thanks to the efforts of researchers such as the volumes’ lead editor, Dr. Stefan H. E. Kaufmann, there have been several recent advances in fighting the disease. ... |
 | Disease and Class: Tuberculosis and the Shaping of Modern North American Society (Health and Medicine in American Society) by Georgina D., Feldberg Until a decade ago, the conquest of tuberculosis seemed one of the great triumphs of modern medicine. The resurgence of TB in the wake of AIDS has to be understood, Georgina Feldberg argues, in the context of decisions the U.S. Public Health Service made, beginning in the 1930s, to prevent TB through improved hygiene and long-term treatment with medications, rather than program of BCG vaccination... |
 | The White Plague: Tuberculosis, Man, and Society by Rene J. Dubos |
 | The Making of a Social Disease: Tuberculosis in Nineteenth-Century France by David S. Barnes In this first English-language study of popular and scientific responses to tuberculosis in nineteenth-century France, David Barnes provides a much-needed historical perspective on a disease that is making an alarming comeback in the United States and Europe. Barnes argues that French perceptions of the diseaseranging from the early romantic image of a consumptive woman to the... |
| © 2009 BrightSurf.com |