BACKGROUND:  The only currently available TB vaccine, an attenuated Mycobacterium bovis strain Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG), is of variable efficacy. A large carefully conducted meta-analysis has estimated the potency of BCG to be approximately 50%. UCLA researchers developed and reported in the last several years a recombinant BCG expressing the Mycobacterium tuberculosis 30 kDa major secretory protein (r30). This vaccine, named rBCG30, induces greater protection than BCG against aerosol challenge with a highly virulent strain of M. tuberculosis.

INNOVATION:  UCLA researchers have developed an improved version of the rBCG30 vaccine that co-expresses host immunostimulatory molecules that shift the host's immune response towards a more protective type of immune response. These vaccines are significantly more potent than the first generation rBCG30 vaccine in the highly relevant and stringent outbred guinea pig model of pulmonary tuberculosis, a model that closely mimics human tuberculosis.

POTENTIAL APPLICATIONS 

• A more potent and effective vaccine against TB.

ADVANTAGES

• Directs a host's immune response towards a more potent protective immune response.
• More efficacious than the currently available vaccine and even rBCG30, which itself is more potent than the currently available vaccine.

DEVELOPMENT-TO-DATE:  This vaccine has been tested and proven effective in guinea pigs.

Reference: UCLA Case No. 2006-538

PCT Application: WO/07/121194