Advances in immunotherapy for tuberculosis treatment.

Immunotherapies have the potential to improve the outcome in all patients with tuberculosis (TB) including those with multidrug-resistant (MDR)-TB and extensively drug-resistant (XDR)-TB. Immunotherapy for TB may shorten duration of treatment and reduce pathology in individuals cured by chemotherapy, potentially preventing recurrence. Currently none of the available candidate agents have proof of efficacy for use in MDR-TB or XDR-TB. Further development and evaluation of existing immunotherapeutic agents is required to identify an effective agent that can be used adjunctively with chemotherapy to improve treatment outcomes for drug-susceptible TB, MDR-TB, and XDR-TB. With a range of potential immunotherapeutics, some of which have been produced to good manufacturing practice (GMP) standards and are registered for other indications in humans, the immunotherapy option should no longer be ignored.