Tuberculosis
The bacteria (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) which is spread through the air when people with lung TB cough, sneeze or spit. A person needs to inhale only a few germs to become infected.
Every year, 10 million people fall ill with the disease. Despite being a preventable and curable disease, each year 1.4 million people die from TB. It is also a major contributor to antimicrobial resistance.
Most of the people who fall ill with TB live in low- and middle-income countries however TB is present all over the world. About half of all people with the disease can be found in 8 countries: Bangladesh, China, India, Indonesia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines and South Africa.
At Centenary our research is through a range of measures. Through developing new vaccines and drugs, improving our understanding of TB immunology, discovering new biomarkers and contributing to public policy and practice. As a part of the Centre of Research Excellence in Tuberculosis Control we have the platform to translate new discoveries into more effective tools to control TB.
We have developed a fully synthetic TB vaccine in a proof-of-principle study for a new type of vaccine. The same methods could be used to develop vaccines against other lung infections such as SARS-CoV-2.
We have also developed a new protein fusion vaccine called CysVac2 that is very effective against TB infection when given as an intramuscular injection. Delivery of this multistage vaccine promotes the development of lung-resident memory T cells that we have previously shown can protect against TB. This is a promising candidate vaccine for clinical development.
We have identified a signature based on gene expression in blood cells that distinguishes early tuberculosis disease from people with latent TB Infection and those with no evidence of TB infection. This blood biomarker can be used to help detect TB patients at an early stage.
In collaboration we have shown that synthetic analogues of naturally occurring products that have a common protein target in mycobacteria can kill the TB bacillus growing in humans.
Professor Warwick Britton AO, Head of Tuberculosis Research Program leads this research
We have developed a fully synthetic TB vaccine in a proof-of-principle study for a new type of vaccine. The same methods could be used to develop vaccines against other lung infections such as SARS-CoV-2.
We have also developed a new protein fusion vaccine called CysVac2 that is very effective against TB infection when given as an intramuscular injection. Delivery of this multistage vaccine promotes the development of lung-resident memory T cells that we have previously shown can protect against TB. This is a promising candidate vaccine for clinical development.
We have identified a signature based on gene expression in blood cells that distinguishes early tuberculosis disease from people with latent TB Infection and those with no evidence of TB infection. This blood biomarker can be used to help detect TB patients at an early stage.
In collaboration we have shown that synthetic analogues of naturally occurring products that have a common protein target in mycobacteria can kill the TB bacillus growing in humans.
Professor Warwick Britton AO, Head of Tuberculosis Research Program leads this research