Development of the Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccine: review of the historical and biochemical evidence for a genealogical tree.

The original Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette Guérin vaccine strain has developed into several different substrains which have been used for production of BCG vaccines throughout the world since 1921. Based on the latest genetic and antigenic knowledge, as well as the early literature reports on BCG vaccination, we are able to fit the different pieces of the BCG puzzle together and outline the origin of the different substrains of M. bovis BCG.

Comparative evaluation of low-molecular-mass proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis identifies members of the ESAT-6 family as immunodominant T-cell antigens.

Culture filtrate from Mycobacterium tuberculosis contains protective antigens of relevance for the generation of a new antituberculosis vaccine. We have identified two previously uncharacterized M. tuberculosis proteins (TB7.

Delayed-type hypersensitivity responses to ESAT-6 and MPT64 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis in the guinea pig.

Two antigens from Mycobacterium tuberculosis, ESAT-6 and MPT64, elicited delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) skin responses in outbred guinea pigs infected with M. tuberculosis by the aerosol and intravenous routes but not those sensitized with M. bovis BCG or M.

Characterization of the delayed type hypersensitivity-inducing epitope of MPT64 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis secretes several proteins into the extracellular environment, some of which are restricted to the M. tuberculosis complex. One of these antigens is MPT64.

Key epitopes on the ESAT-6 antigen recognized in mice during the recall of protective immunity to Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

The recall of long-lived immunity in a mouse model of tuberculosis (TB) is defined as an accelerated accumulation of reactive T cells in the target organs. We have recently identified Ag 85B and a 6-kilodalton early secretory antigenic target, designated ESAT-6, as key antigenic targets recognized by these cells. In the present study, preferential recognition of the ESAT-6 Ag during the recall of immunity was found to be shared by five of six genetically different strains of mice.