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Full-Text Articles in Pathogenic Microbiology
Novel Mechanisms Of Antigen Processing That Enhance Bcg Vaccine Efficacy, Christopher R. Singh
Novel Mechanisms Of Antigen Processing That Enhance Bcg Vaccine Efficacy, Christopher R. Singh
Dissertations & Theses (Open Access)
Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis, is the most lethal single infectious agent afflicting man today causing 2 million deaths per year. The World Health Organization recommends a vaccine as the best option to prevent this disease. The current vaccine, BCG, has a variable efficacy and does not protect adults. It is known that BCG vaccine becomes sequestered in special phagosome compartments of macrophages that do not fuse with lysosomes. Since lysosome fusion is necessary for peptide production and T cell priming leading to protective TH1 immunity, we hypothesized that vaccine efficacy is reduced and occurs perhaps …