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Indian scientists have discovered that BCG – the only TB vaccine in the world – could be more effective if curcumin nanoparticles, the main ingredient of the popular kitchen spice turmeric, were used at the same time as the vaccine.
Scientists say the discovery opens a new window for drug-resistant TB, one of the biggest global threats to public health that kills lakhs every year.
Biologists from Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi, were looking for ways to improve existing treatment options for tuberculosis when they focused their attention on nano-curcumin, a very small version of the product. Miracle chemical that is at the heart of the kitchen spice. known to house many medicinal properties.
"We have shown that a booster dose of BCG associated with nano-curcumin confers superior vaccine efficacy. This opens up a new area of vaccine research and has huge implications. We are ready for clinical trials, "team director Gobardhan Das of the JNU Special Center for Molecular Medicine told DH.
Discovered in 1921, BCG is the only TB vaccine in the world, but it protects only children, but also with varying effectiveness.
As part of their experiments to improve the effectiveness of the vaccine, researchers first injected the BCG vaccine into laboratory mice and then injected nano-curcumin for 30 days. The JNU team collaborated with KITT University in Bhubaneswar and Vanderbilt University in Tennessee (USA) to obtain nano-curcumin and analyze the results.
When they measured the biochemical parameters to examine the immune responses, they found an improvement in the effectiveness of the vaccine. Nanocurcumin not only creates an environment conducive to the priming and activation of cells that fight the enemy, but also enhances the production of two key immune cells.
"Curcumin nanoparticles are promising for improving the effectiveness of TB vaccines," the team reported in Infection and Immunity, a journal published by the American Society for Microbiology. "This is an important outcome that could potentially address an unmet critical need in the development of a TB vaccine," said Anand Ranganathan, a researcher at UNJ and a member of the National Tuberculosis Fund. 39; team.
"A candidate vaccine conferring a better protection of BCG would mean that fewer antibiotics would be needed, thus minimizing the chances of developing drug resistance. The study shows that nanoparticles of curcumin could improve the effectiveness of BCG vaccines, but that other experiments are needed to further evaluate its safety and efficacy on other animal models. , commented Ramandeep Singh of Faridabad Institute of Scientific and Technological Research for Health. TB but is not associated with BCG paper.
With nearly 28 lakh cases, India had the highest number of TB patients in the world in 2016, although researchers fear that lakhs will escape the surveillance network. The disease causes one death every 90 seconds and 12 new infections per lakh each year, in addition to an economic burden of nearly $ 340 billion between 2006 and 2014.
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