Published by Bindi M. Doshi, PhD on
Tuberculosis (TB) is caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis and usually targets the lungs. This disease is spread when an infected person sneezes or coughs, thereby releasing small droplets into the air and passing to a new individual. When left untreated, death can occur. Thankfully, there is a vaccine for TB called Bacille Calmette-Gurin (BCG) and is often given to young children. This vaccine has been shown to last 15 years. There is some doubt about the efficacy of the BCG vaccine in adult pulmonary TB1,2. For this reason, more research needs to be done to provide a safe and effective TB vaccine for adults.
Antigen (Ag) 85 is gaining interest among vaccine development research. Ag85 is preserved in Mycobacterium and allows bacteria to evade the host immune response by preventing mechanisms involved in terminating the infection3. Research continues to uncover exactly how Mycobacterium tuberculosis persists and remains in an infected person while evading the immune system. New advances in immunology are giving researchers a greater picture for how the immune response is manipulated by this bacteria. It is clear that with greater understanding of how the human immune response system functions and how different infections manipulate this system, that targeted therapies, including vaccines, can be developed to combat the infection successfully.
MBL International is pleased to announce the launch of our new tetramer targeted to Ag85B-specific T cells for murine studies. As always, our team is on hand for any question or request that you may have.
| Product Code | Target | Conjugate |
| TS-M719-1 | I-Ab Mtb Ag85B240-254 Tetramer-FQDAYNAAGGHNAVF | PE |
| TS-M719-2 | I-Ab Mtb Ag85B240-254 Tetramer-FQDAYNAAGGHNAVF | APC |
(1) Davenne,T., & McShane, H. (2016). Why don't we have an effective tuberculosis vaccine yet?. Expert review of vaccines, 15(8), 1009–1013. doi:10.1586/14760584.2016.1170599
(2) Andersen, P., & Doherty, T.M. (2005). The success and failure of BCG - implications for a novel tuberculosis vaccine. Nature Reviews Microbiology,3(8), 656-662. doi:10.1038/nrmicro1211
(3) Babaki, M. K., Soleimanpour, S., & Rezaee, S. A. (2017). Antigen 85 complex as a powerful Mycobacterium tuberculosis immunogene: Biology, immune-pathogenicity, applications in diagnosis, and vaccine design. Microbial Pathogenesis, 112, 20-29. doi:10.1016/j.micpath.2017.08.040