Zakaria Hmam Author

Short Communication Open Access

Improving the efficacy of the tuberculosis vaccine M. bovis BCG- Zakaria Hmama- The University of British Columbia

Author(s):

Zakaria Hmam

Aim: Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccine, introduced almost 100 years ago, is the only option to prevent Tuberculosis (TB) disease. It effectively protects newborns from meningeal TB but fails to prevent adult pulmonary TB. TB kills 1.3 million people annually in areas where BCG vaccination is widely practiced. Thus, more effective TB vaccines are urgently needed. It has been shown that BCG mimics features of virulent M. tuberculosis, in particular attenuation of essential macrophage functions such as phagosome maturation and antigen presentation. 

Findings: One of these studies revealed that defect in antigen presentation is largely due to down-regulation of the cysteine protease Cathepsin S (CatS), which prevents MHC II molecule maturation and proper ant... view more»

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