Tuberculosis Vaccine Research: Inducing Immune Memory and Regulation

A special issue of Vaccines (ISSN 2076-393X). This special issue belongs to the section "Vaccines against Tropical and other Infectious Diseases".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2025 | Viewed by 4205

Special Issue Editor


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Guest Editor
1. Lanzhou Center for Tuberculosis Research, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
2. Institute of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Interests: tuberculosis subunit vaccine and immune memory

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The purpose of tuberculosis (TB) vaccine immunization is to induce long-term immunological memory that mediates protection from infection. Memory T cells would be expected to be an important correlate of immune protection against TB. It is known that following antigen stimulation, T cells are activated and develop into different subsets including effector T cells (TEFF), effector memory T cells, central memory T cells and tissue-resident memory T cells (TRM), etc.  TEM, TCM and lung TRM were reported to mediate immune protection against M. tuberculosis respiratory infection in tests conducted by different labs. However, their role in vaccine-mediated immune protection is still unclear. More studies are needed to investigate the correlation between memory T cells and protection, especially in the human population. Moreover, there are many factors, including antigens and adjuvants, that play a role in the development of immune memory. The vaccination pathway and schedule also affect the development of immune memory. All these factors need to be explored to improve the protective effects of vaccine immunization for tuberculosis.

Prof. Dr. Bingdong Zhu
Guest Editor

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Keywords

  • tuberculosis
  • vaccine
  • immune memory

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

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16 pages, 12036 KiB  
Article
Enhanced Glycosylation Caused by Overexpression of Rv1002c in a Recombinant BCG Promotes Immune Response and Protects against Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infection
by Shufeng Weng, Qingchun Li, Tianran Zhang, Taiyue Lin, Yumo He, Guang Yang, Honghai Wang and Ying Xu
Vaccines 2024, 12(6), 622; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12060622 - 4 Jun 2024
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Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health threat despite its virtual elimination in developed countries. Issues such as drug accessibility, emergence of multidrug-resistant strains, and limitations of the current BCG vaccine highlight the urgent need for more effective TB control measures. This study [...] Read more.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health threat despite its virtual elimination in developed countries. Issues such as drug accessibility, emergence of multidrug-resistant strains, and limitations of the current BCG vaccine highlight the urgent need for more effective TB control measures. This study constructed BCG strains overexpressing Rv1002c and found that the rBCG-Rv1002c strain secreted more glycosylated proteins, significantly enhancing macrophage activation and immune protection against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb). These results indicate that Rv1002c overexpression promotes elevated levels of O-glycosylation in BCG bacteriophages, enhancing their phagocytic and antigenic presentation functions. Moreover, rBCG-Rv1002c significantly upregulated immune regulatory molecules on the macrophage surface, activated the NF-κB pathway, and facilitated the release of large amounts of NO and H2O2, thereby enhancing bacterial control. In mice, rBCG-Rv1002c immunization induced greater innate and adaptive immune responses, including increased production of multifunctional and long-term memory T cells. Furthermore, rBCG-Rv1002c-immunized mice exhibited reduced lung bacterial load and histological damage upon M. tb infection. This result shows that it has the potential to be an excellent candidate for a preventive vaccine against TB. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tuberculosis Vaccine Research: Inducing Immune Memory and Regulation)
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11 pages, 1385 KiB  
Article
Mycobacterium tuberculosis Deficient in PdtaS Cytosolic Histidine Kinase Displays Attenuated Growth and Affords Protective Efficacy against Aerosol M. tuberculosis Infection in Mice
by Kelly A. Prendergast, Gayathri Nagalingam, Nicholas P. West and James A. Triccas
Vaccines 2024, 12(1), 50; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12010050 - 2 Jan 2024
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Abstract
New control measures are urgently required to control tuberculosis (TB), as the current vaccine, Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG), has had a limited impact on disease spread. The identification of virulence mechanisms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an important strategy in vaccine design, as it permits [...] Read more.
New control measures are urgently required to control tuberculosis (TB), as the current vaccine, Bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG), has had a limited impact on disease spread. The identification of virulence mechanisms of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is an important strategy in vaccine design, as it permits the development of strains attenuated for growth that may have vaccine potential. In this report, we determined the role of the PdtaS response regulator in M. tuberculosis virulence and defined the vaccine potential of a pdtaS-deficient strain. Deletion of pdtaS (MtbΔpdtaS) resulted in reduced persistence of M. tuberculosis within mouse organs, which was equivalent to the persistence of the BCG vaccine in the lung and liver of infected mice. However, the generation of effector CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (CD44+CD62LloKLRG1+) was similar between wild-type M. tuberculosis and MtbΔpdtaS and greater than that elicited by BCG. Heightened immunity induced by MtbΔpdtaS compared to BCG was also observed by analysis of antigen-specific IFN-γ-secreting T cell responses induced by vaccination. MtbΔpdtaS displayed improved protection against aerosol M. tuberculosis compared to BCG, which was most apparent in the lung at 20 weeks post-infection. These results suggest that the deletion of the PdtaS response regulator warrants further appraisal as a tool to combat TB in humans. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tuberculosis Vaccine Research: Inducing Immune Memory and Regulation)
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Review

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20 pages, 1286 KiB  
Review
Tuberculosis Vaccines and T Cell Immune Memory
by Fei Li, Wenrui Dang, Yunjie Du, Xiaonan Xu, Pu He, Yuhe Zhou and Bingdong Zhu
Vaccines 2024, 12(5), 483; https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines12050483 - 30 Apr 2024
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Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major infectious disease partly due to the lack of an effective vaccine. Therefore, developing new and more effective TB vaccines is crucial for controlling TB. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) usually parasitizes in macrophages; therefore, cell-mediated immunity plays [...] Read more.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major infectious disease partly due to the lack of an effective vaccine. Therefore, developing new and more effective TB vaccines is crucial for controlling TB. Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) usually parasitizes in macrophages; therefore, cell-mediated immunity plays an important role. The maintenance of memory T cells following M. tuberculosis infection or vaccination is a hallmark of immune protection. This review analyzes the development of memory T cells during M. tuberculosis infection and vaccine immunization, especially on immune memory induced by BCG and subunit vaccines. Furthermore, the factors affecting the development of memory T cells are discussed in detail. The understanding of the development of memory T cells should contribute to designing more effective TB vaccines and optimizing vaccination strategies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Tuberculosis Vaccine Research: Inducing Immune Memory and Regulation)
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