Molecular approaches to developing subunit vaccines with improved efficacy against tuberculosis

结核病仍然是世界范围内的一个主要健康问题，每年造成大约300万人死亡。此外，感染艾滋病病毒的人患结核病的风险要大得多。唯一可用的结核病疫苗卡介苗在预防该病方面不是很有效。因此，迫切需要开发新的疫苗来帮助防治结核病。导致结核病的细菌由五种蛋白质组成，其中一些已知会在动物和人类中引起免疫反应。我们将生产由其中13种重要蛋白质制成的疫苗。我们将利用一种非常模仿人类结核病感染的实验室动物模型，结合复杂的免疫学技术，确定这些疫苗是否能刺激正确的免疫反应，以对抗结核病和预防感染。此外，我们将利用已知的增强免疫反应的分子来优化这些疫苗。我们将进一步研究最近测序的结核杆菌基因组，以确定可能包含在这些新型抗结核疫苗中的新蛋白质。这是一个具有国际竞争力的项目，我们的团队处于这项研究工作的前沿。一种新的、有效的结核病疫苗将是一项重大的医学突破，是澳大利亚卫生和医学研究的一项重大成就。

Tuberculosis remains a major worldwide health problem, resulting in approximately 3 million deaths per year. Furthermore, people infected with the AIDS virus are at a much greater risk of catching tuberculosis. The only vaccine available for tuberculosis, known as BCG, is not very effective at preventing the disease. Therefore there is an urgent need to develop new vaccines to help combat tuberculosis. The bacterium that causes tuberculosis is made up of may proteins, some of which are known to induce immune responses in animals and humans. We will produce vaccines that are made from 13 of these important proteins. Using a laboratory animal model that closely mimics human tuberculosis infection, together with sophisticated immunological techniques, we will determine if these vaccines stimulate the right immune response to fight tuberculosis and prevent infection. In addition, we will exploit molecules known to boost immune responses to optimise these vaccines. Further we will study the recently sequenced genome of the tuberculosis bacterium to identify new proteins that may be included in these novel anti-tuberculosis vaccines. This is an internationally competitive project and our team is at the forefront of this research effort. A new, effective tuberculosis vaccine would be a major medical breakthrough and a represent a significant achievement for Australian health and medical research.