New tuberculosis vaccines approaching clinical trial – An overview

The 21st century continues to witness the threat of tuberculosis. Drug treatments are available, but multidrug-resistant strains are on the rise and the most widely used vaccine only protects against severe forms of childhood tuberculosis and fails to prevent the most prevalent form – pulmonary tuberculosis in adults. Several new vaccine candidates have recently been produced for clinical trial testing, including subunit and viable attenuated vaccines. Probably a combination of both will give the best results. To speed up clinical vaccine trials, biomarkers of protective immunity are urgently needed.

Section editors:Gary Woodnutt – CovX, San Diego, USAPaul-Henri Lambert – Centre of Vaccinology, University of Geneva, Switzerland