Johns Hopkins Team Develops Therapeutic, Nasally Delivered DNA Vaccine for TB

1 April 2026

Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine news release

A research team reported developing a therapeutic intranasal (nose-delivered) DNA vaccine against TB that fuses two genes with the goal of directing the immune system to fight drug-tolerant bacterial “persisters” that can survive prolonged antibiotic therapy and contribute to disease relapse.

Administered together with first-line TB drug therapy, the intranasal DNA fusion vaccine helped infected mice clear the disease bacteria faster, reduced lung inflammation and prevented relapse after treatment ended. The vaccine also helped the powerful TB drug combination of bedaquiline, pretomanid and linezolid work better, suggesting it could be used with treatments against drug-resistant TB to help the body fight the disease, even hard-to-treat cases.

Read the full news release here.

Source: Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine