The effect of BCG vaccine in the era of COVID-19 pandemic

Scandinavian Journal of Immunology
Ahmed M AbbasAsmaa S Shaltout

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) has become a worldwide emergency and announced as a pandemic recently with variable incidence and mortality in different geographical areas. The relationship between COVID-19 and Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) vaccine is still under investigation, and we aim to clarify this matter. BCG is a live attenuated tuberculosis vaccine. BCG vaccination of adult humans induces strained circulating monocytes having an increase in their capacity to produce proinflammatory cytokines. This effect translates to non-specific protection against unrelated pathogens, an example of which is S. aureus and C. Albicans. Also, vaccination of BCG of healthy volunteers showed an increase in the capacity of natural killer (NK) cells to secrete proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-1β and IL-6 after stimulation with M. tuberculosis or unrelated pathogens (S. aureus, C. Albicans).

References

Sep 19, 2012·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Johanneke KleinnijenhuisMihai G Netea
Dec 19, 2019·Frontiers in Immunology·Camila CoviánAlexis M Kalergis
Apr 25, 2020·Allergy·Cevdet OzdemirZeynep Ulker Tamay
May 8, 2020·EMBO Molecular Medicine·Masayuki Miyasaka
May 14, 2020·JAMA : the Journal of the American Medical Association·Uri HamielIlan Youngster

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Citations

May 8, 2021·International Reviews of Immunology·Ashok AspatwarSeppo Parkkila

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