Time to face the proofs: the BCG Moreau vaccine promotes superior inflammatory cytokine profile in vitro when compared with Russia, Pasteur, and Danish strains

• Published in: Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics Vol. 18; no. 1; p. 1989913
• Main Authors: da Silva, Andreon Santos Machado, Albuquerque, Lawrence Henrique Paz, de Ponte, Carlos Germano Garrido, de Almeida, Matheus Rogério, de Faria, Sandra Elizabete Ribeiro, Ribeiro, Mariana da Silva, Pereira, Evelyn Nunes Goulart da Silva, Antas, Paulo Renato Zuquim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 31.12.2022; Taylor & Francis Group
• Subjects: BCG Vaccine; CG Vaccine; strains; cytokine; Cytokines; Denmark; Humans; Licensed Vaccines – Short Report; Mycobacterium bovis; Mycobacterium bovis BCG Moreau; Mycobacterium bovis BCG Russia; Russia; Tuberculosis; Tuberculosis - prevention & control; Denmark; Russia; cytokine; Mycobacterium bovis BCG Russia; Tuberculosis; CG Vaccine; strains; Mycobacterium bovis BCG Moreau
• ISSN: 2164-5515; 2164-554X
• DOI: 10.1080/21645515.2021.1989913

Tuberculosis (TB) has been a major public health problem worldwide, and the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine is the only available vaccine against this disease. The BCG vaccine is no longer a single organism; it consists of diverse strains. The early-shared strains of the BCG vaccine are stronger immunostimulators than the late-shared strains. In this study, we have employed a simple in vitro human model to broadly evaluate the differences among four widely used BCG vaccines during the characterization of strain-specific host immune responses. In general, the BCG Moreau vaccine generated a higher inflammatory cytokine profile and lower TGF-β levels compared with the Russia, Pasteur, and Danish strains in the context of early sensitization with TB; however, no changes were observed in the IL-23 levels between infected and noninfected cultures. Unsurprisingly, the BCG vaccines provided different features, and the variances among those strains may influence the activation of infected host cells, which ultimately leads to distinct protective efficacy to tackle TB.