Vaccine Development and Sero-diagnosis of Leprosy - Watch Now

Speaker: Dr Yumi Maeda, Leprosy Research Center National Tokyo Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan 

Watch the video:  VALIDATE members can watch the video here (click to request access).

About the Seminar: The seminar took place at 10:00 GMT, 30 November 2021

BCG is the most studied vaccine and holds promise. Several studies indicate that BCG confers some protection against leprosy. In this talk, Dr Yumi Maeda, of the Leprosy Research Center National Tokyo Institute of Infectious Diseases, Japan, discusses how her team constructed a recombinant BCG that secretes Major Membrane Protein-II of M. leprae, and found that it was effective in inhibiting the growth of M. leprae in mice footpads. Studies are underway to produce BCG that is stable and can be used for large scale preparation.

Detection of leprosy is also necessary for early treatment. From the analysis of the genomic sequence, specific genes coding for antigens of leprosy were selected for evaluating the antibodies in the sera of patients, and user-friendly tools are also being developed.