Biologics: Targets & Therapy (May 2017)
Development of a potent invigorator of immune responses endowed with both preventive and therapeutic properties
Abstract
Gursaran P Talwar,1 Jagdish C Gupta,1 Abu S Mustafa,2 Hemanta K Kar,3 Kiran Katoch,4 Shreemanta K Parida,5 Prabhakara P Reddi,6 Niyaz Ahmed,7 Vikram Saini,8 Somesh Gupta9 1Talwar Research Foundation, New Delhi, India; 2Department of Microbiology, Kuwait University, Kuwait; 3Department of Dermatology, Paras Hospital, Gurgaon, 4National JALMA Institute of Leprosy and Other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra, India; 5German Centre of Infection, Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany; 6Department of Comparative Biosciences, University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, IL, USA; 7Department of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad, India; 8Department of Microbiology, University of Alabama, Birmingham, AL, USA; 9Department of Dermatology and Venereology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India Abstract: This article reviews briefly the making of an immunoprophylactic-cum-immunotherapeutic vaccine against leprosy. The vaccine is based on cultivable, heat-killed atypical mycobacteria, whose gene sequence is now known. It has been named Mycobacterium indicus pranii. It has received the approval of the Drug Controller General of India and the US Food and Drug Administration. Besides leprosy, M. indicus pranii has found utility in the treatment of category II (“difficult to treat”) tuberculosis. It also heals ugly anogenital warts. It has preventive and therapeutic action against SP2/O myelomas. It is proving to be a potent adjuvant for enhancing antibody titers of a recombinant vaccine against human chorionic gonadotropin, with the potential of preventing pregnancy without derangement of ovulation and menstrual regularity in sexually active women. Keywords: leprosy, tuberculosis, anogenital warts, myeloma, adjuvant
