Sulfoglycolipid Antigens, Their Extraction From Mycobacterium Tuberculosis, and Their Use Against Tuberculosis

A compound of the following general formula (I):

• wherein R1 and R2 are fatty acyl groups.

A process for generating T cell clones, characterized in that said process comprises the following stages:

• incubating antigen presenting cells (APCs), with a Mycobacterium tuberculosis envelope preparation substantially devoid of proteins, to obtain non-protein envelope antigen loaded APCs,
• contacting peripheral blood mononuclear cells with the envelope antigen loaded APCs to obtain proliferating T cells,
• cloning proliferating T cells by limiting dilution and selecting the clones releasing a molecule selected from the group comprising IFN-γ, TNF-α, granulysin or IL-4 when contacted by envelope antigen loaded APCs to obtain T cell clones.