Novel vaccination strategies and approaches against human tuberculosis

Abstract

Tuberculosis (TB) remains one of a major health problem worldwide. Tuberculosis vaccine research has made an extraordinary progress over the past few years. However, there is still no replacement for the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin vaccine, the only TB vaccine licensed for human use. Therefore, the discovery and development of new TB vaccines remains a priority. This article discusses current strategies used to diversify TB vaccines and includes discussion of the status of efforts to improve protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M tb) infection or TB disease by developing new and safe TB vaccines. This article also highlights the current research efforts in immune-enhancing approaches to improve vaccination efficacy. The development of more effective TB vaccines might have significant impact on global TB control.