Resumo

BORRERO, Reinier et al. Mycobacterium tuberculosis: virulence factors. Vaccimonitor [online]. 2011, vol.20, n.1, pp. 34-38. ISSN 1025-0298.

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the causative agent of tuberculosis, one of the most lethal diseases worldwide. BCG is the only available vaccine for tuberculosis control, but at the same time it fails in the protection from pulmonary tuberculosis, which is the most common and responsible form of dissemination. The identification of virulence factors of the causative organism could help in developing a new vaccine candidate capable of neutralizing the action of these pathogenic determinants. The use of different animal models has allowed to reproduce the stages of the disease and to measure or to quantify the virulence of different circulating strains of M. tuberculosis. Gene mutations and other molecular biology techniques have made possible to elucidate the specific genes involved in virulence of this organism, that encodes many complex and different factors.

Palavras-chave : Mycobacterium tuberculosis; virulence factors; genes.

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