BACKGROUND: The tuberculosis (TB) pandemic remains a leading cause of human morbidity and mortality, despite widespread use of the only licensed anti-TB vaccine, bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG). The protective efficacy of BCG in preventing pulmonary TB is highly variable; therefore, an effective new vaccine is urgently required. METHODS: In the present study, we assessed the ability of novel recombinant BCG vaccine (rBCG) against Mycobacterium tuberculosis by using modern immunological methods. RESULTS: Enzyme-linked immunospot assays demonstrated that the rBCG vaccine, which coexpresses two mycobacterial antigens (Ag85B and CFP10) and human interleukin (IL)-12 (rBCG2) elicits greater interferon-γ (IFN-γ) release in the mouse lung and spleen, compared to the parental BCG. In addition, rBCG2 triggers a Th1-polarized response. Our results also showed that rBCG2 vaccination significantly limits M. tuberculosis H37Rv multiplication in macrophages. The rBCG2 vaccine surprisingly induces significantly higher tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells that were exposed to a nonmycobacterial stimulus, compared to the parental BCG. CONCLUSION: In this study, we demonstrated that the novel rBCG2 vaccine may be a promising candidate vaccine against M. tuberculosis infection.
BACKGROUND: The tuberculosis (TB) pandemic remains a leading cause of human morbidity and mortality, despite widespread use of the only licensed anti-TB vaccine, bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG). The protective efficacy of BCG in preventing pulmonary TB is highly variable; therefore, an effective new vaccine is urgently required. METHODS: In the present study, we assessed the ability of novel recombinant BCG vaccine (rBCG) against Mycobacterium tuberculosis by using modern immunological methods. RESULTS: Enzyme-linked immunospot assays demonstrated that the rBCG vaccine, which coexpresses two mycobacterial antigens (Ag85B and CFP10) and human interleukin (IL)-12 (rBCG2) elicits greater interferon-γ (IFN-γ) release in the mouse lung and spleen, compared to the parental BCG. In addition, rBCG2 triggers a Th1-polarized response. Our results also showed that rBCG2 vaccination significantly limits M. tuberculosis H37Rv multiplication in macrophages. The rBCG2 vaccine surprisingly induces significantly higher tumornecrosis factor-α (TNF-α) production by peripheral blood mononuclear cells that were exposed to a nonmycobacterial stimulus, compared to the parental BCG. CONCLUSION: In this study, we demonstrated that the novel rBCG2 vaccine may be a promising candidate vaccine against M. tuberculosis infection.
Authors: Wei-Ju Su; Chia-Hsuin Chang; Jiun-Ling Wang; Shu-Fong Chen; Chin-Hui Yang Journal: Int J Environ Res Public Health Date: 2021-04-18 Impact factor: 3.390