Lessons for tuberculosis vaccines from respiratory virus infection

There is a worldwide epidemic of increasingly drug-resistant TB. Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination provides partial protection against disseminated disease in infants but poor protection against later pulmonary TB. Cell-mediated protection against respiratory virus infections requires the presence of T cells in lung tissues, and the most effective prime-boost immunizations for Mycobacterium tuberculosis also induce lung-resident lymphocytes. These observations need to be taken into account when designing future vaccines against M. tuberculosis.