Grandfather Helping Little Boy to Wash His Hands at Passover Seder with Family - stock photo

Rare genetic disease may protect Ashkenazi Jews against TB

06 February 2023

Scientists may have solved the question of why Ashkenazi Jews are significantly more susceptible to a rare genetic disorder known as Gaucher disease – and the answer may help settle the debate about whether they are less susceptible to tuberculosis (TB).

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‘Clogged-up’ immune cells help explain smoking risk for TB

24 March 2016

Smoking increases an individual’s risk of developing tuberculosis (TB) – and makes the infection worse – because it causes vital immune cells to become clogged up, slowing their movement and impeding their ability to fight infection, according to new research published in the journal Cell.

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Picture to educate people in villages that have no medical service about the spread of TB

A whole host of options

09 October 2015

Almost one in four of the world’s cases of tuberculosis (TB) are in India and the disease is constantly adapting itself to outwit our medicines. Could the answer lie in targeting not the bacteria but its host, the patient?

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Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Gene discovery provides clues to how TB may evade the immune system

16 March 2015

The largest genetic study of tuberculosis (TB) susceptibility to date has led to a potentially important new insight into how the pathogen manages to evade the immune system. Published today in the journal Nature Genetics, the study advances understanding of the biological mechanisms involved in TB, which may open up new avenues to design efficient vaccines for its prevention.

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Small chemical fragments

Small is beautiful in drug discovery

01 May 2010

Cambridge scientists are employing fragment-based drug discovery approaches - a technique that involves "growing" potent drugs from tiny chemical fragments - to tackle tuberculosis and cancer.

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