WARF TECHNOLOGIES

Approximately one-third of the world’s population is infected with the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative agent of tuberculosis (TB).  Five to 10 percent of non-immunocompromised individuals infected with M. tuberculosis will develop active TB during their lifetimes.  TB ultimately causes 1.7 million deaths every year and is a leading cause of death of individuals infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). 

A vaccine for tuberculosis has been developed and is used routinely worldwide.  However, this vaccine, which consists of an attenuated strain of the bovine pathogen M. bovis, is ineffective against TB strains that infect adults. 

Drugs are available to treat TB, but resistance has developed against every drug currently available.  Multi-drug resistant (MDR) and extensively drug resistant (XDR) strains pose a serious threat.  New methods of preventing or treating TB are needed.

UW-Madison researchers have developed four candidates for a live attenuated TB vaccine.  They disrupted regions of the M. tuberculosis genome that are associated with pathogenicity and identified viable but attenuated mutants with disruptions in the ctpV, rv0990c, rv0971c or rv0348 genes.  These mutants may be useful for eliciting an immune response against tuberculosis.

• Vaccines against TB
• Drug targets for treating different stages of TB
• Genetic vaccines based on the identified genes

• Provides improved candidates for a TB vaccine
• Unlike the current commercial TB vaccine, vaccines developed from these mutants should protect against TB in adults.

For More Information About the Inventors

• Adel Talaat

Related Intellectual Property

• View Continuation Patent in PDF format.
• View Continuation Patent in PDF format.

Tech Fields

• Drug Discovery & Development : Other drug discovery & development
• Therapeutics & Vaccines : Vaccines