For a disease that’s haunted this country for generations, tuberculosis still kills over 400,000 people in India every year. It’s not just a public health crisis — it’s personal. Most families know someone who's lived with TB, fought it, or lost to it. And while the BCG vaccine has been around for a century, it’s only partly effective, especially in adults.
But now, there’s fresh hope from an unexpected corner of the immune system.
Researchers have uncovered a new subset of immune cells — a kind of Natural Killer (NK) cell carrying a marker called CD8a — that seems to play a frontline role in battling TB. Early findings suggest these cells react sharply when TB is present, and their numbers dip noticeably during infection, indicating they're actively fighting back.
Why does this matter? Because if we can train future vaccines to rally these precise cells, we might finally have a shot at protecting adults and high-risk groups where the current BCG falls short.
For India, where TB still hides in overcrowded cities, public hospitals, and rural homes, this isn’t just lab news. It’s a signal. A reminder that sometimes, the smallest discoveries inside us might be the biggest breakthroughs waiting to happen.
The work’s still early, but it’s the kind of science worth keeping an eye on.