Biomarkers for Tuberculosis
Biomarkers for TB Consortium is part of the Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative which was launched in 2003 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In partnership with the National Institutes of Health, Wellcome Trust and Canadian Institute of Health to harness the power of science and technology to dramatically improve health in the world’s poorest countries.
The Grand Challenges in Global Health initiative is supporting groundbreaking research projects to discover and develop scientific breakthroughs for preventing, treating, and curing diseases that kill millions of people each year in developing countries.
A grand challenge is a call for a specific scientific or technological innovation that would remove a critical barrier to solving an important health problem in the developing world with a high likelihood of global impact and feasibility. A grand challenge is neither the statement of the global health problem itself (e.g., malaria or AIDS) nor the request for a specific health intervention (e.g., a drug or vaccine), but the call for a discrete scientific or technological innovation which will break through the roadblock that stands between where we are now and where we would like to be in science, medicine, and public health. The grand challenges are goal oriented under 7 goals encompassing thematic topics. A total of 14 Grand Challenges were identified through a call for submissions from more than 1,000 scientists and public health leaders around the world.
GC#6-74 Biomarkers of Protective Immunity Against TB in the Context of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Lead investigator: Stefan H.E. Kaufmann, Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Germany
Dr. Kaufmann will lead an international consortium of 15 institutions in Europe, Africa, and the U.S. They will attempt to identify immune system differences between people who are exposed to tuberculosis and never become sick, and those who develop serious disease. The researchers will focus particular attention on people infected with both TB and HIV. The study results could help guide the design and testing of new TB vaccines, drugs, and diagnostics, especially in areas with high HIV infection rates.
Biomarkers of Protective Immunity Against TB in the Context of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major health problem, disproportionally affecting the developing world. It is estimated that one third of the global population is infected with the tubercle bacillus. None of the current control measures consider the enormous latent reservoir of TB that keeps perpetuating the epidemic. Our goal is to identify biomarkers with prognostic potential, which will be crucial for designing and testing improved vaccines, which protect people with latent infection from developing TB disease.
Sophisticated molecular and immunological tools will be used to study (i) immune responses against the tubercle bacillus during natural infection in endemic populations in Africa, (ii) the impact of progressive HIV-1 infection and its treatment on immunity against TB as well as (iii) immune responses evoked by vaccination with BCG and novel TB vaccine candidates. This will enable the identification of biomarkers needed to facilitate and optimize the development of new TB vaccines.
Background of problem – Tuberculosis
TB is a major health problem especially in low income countries. It is estimated that each year more than 8 million people develop TB with over 2 million deaths. Based on tuberculin skin-test surveys it is estimated that one third of the global population is already latently infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB). Ordinarily only 1 in 10 infected individuals will develop TB disease within a lifetime, but with progressive HIV-1 co-infection the risk increases to about 8% per year. In Africa, HIV-1 has been the single most important factor determining the increased incidence of TB in the past 10 years. Despite major efforts to implement effective treatment strategies for TB patients and the widespread use of the vaccine Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in young infants, none of the current TB control measures appear to address the issue of the enormous reservoir of latent TB that keeps perpetuating the epidemic. From a public health point of view the development of novel TB interventions, in particular post-exposure vaccines that will eradicate latent TB are expected to be very cost-effective in global TB control and will complement the current treatment strategies.
