Tuberculosis Vaccines: An Update of Recent and Ongoing Clinical Trials

Abstract

TB remains a global health challenge and, until now, only one licensed vaccine (the BCG vaccine) is available. The main goal of this work is to assess the progress in the development of new TB vaccines and highlight the research in nanovaccines. A review was conducted using a methodology with the appropriate keywords and inclusion and exclusion criteria. The search revealed 37 clinical trials that were further reviewed. The results available have reported good immunogenicity and safety profiles for the vaccines under investigation. Over the last five years, the vaccines, VPM1002 and Vaccae, have moved ahead to phase III clinical trials, with the remaining candidate vaccines progressing in phase I and II clinical trials. RUTI and ID93+GLA-SE involve the use of nanoparticles. This strategy seems promising to improve the delivery, efficacy, cost, and storage conditions of the existing TB vaccines. In conclusion, the use of nanovaccines may be an option for both prevention and treatment. However, further studies are necessary for the development of novel TB vaccines.

It Takes a Village: The Multifaceted Immune Response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection and Vaccine-Induced Immunity

“…The diverse representation of candidate platforms and antigen usage in the pipeline demonstrate how the research community is advancing despite the absence of robust continual funding needed. An update of completed and ongoing TB vaccine clinical trials is presented here ( 379 ). This is not a trivial endeavor as the Mtb genome encodes thousands of proteins, so protective antigen selection alone is a hurdle.…”

Future of TB Prevention: An Alternative To BCG

“…SCID. 2,4,7 The researchers have been still facing challenges in the development of newer vaccines due to lack of proper & reliable animal models, lack of surrogate markers to assess vaccine efficacy, lack of additional funding for clinical trials 4.) Lack of sufficient clinical trial sites 5.)…”

Toll-like receptor-mediated innate immune responses by recognition of the recombinant dormancy-associated Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteins Rv2659c and Rv1738

“…For example, a candidate vaccine (H56/IC31), consisting of two early secretory antigens of Mtb (Ag85B and ESAT-6) and a dormancy antigen (Rv2660c), increases bacterial containment and reduces disease progression in immunized mice [ 7 ]. Although most vaccines’ efficacy appears promising in pre-clinical studies, those are still pending in the clinical phase [ 8 , 9 ]. This is due to the lack of the suitable antigens that could elicit the protective immune compartments.…”