BCG vaccine tagged posts

However, the effect of the vaccine specifically against COVID-19 has not been demonstrated. The BCG vaccine, an old treatment originally developed for tuberculosis, has a broad, stimulating effect on the immune system. This gives it an effective preventive action against various infections — possibly also against COVID-19. It is frequently given to children, but in this double-blind randomized clinical study, a collaboration between Radboud University Medical Center and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens it was shown that elderly people also benefit from it. The results of the study are in Cell.

At Radboudumc, Professor of Expe...

Immunologic history of type 1 diabetes.

Data presented at American Diabetes Association meeting describes a potential new mechanism by which the BCG vaccine may restore the proper immune response to the insulin-secreting islet cells of the pancreas. Presented by Denise Faustman, MD, PhD, director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Immunobiology Laboratory and principal investigator of the trial, the findings suggest that BCG may induce a permanent increase in expression of genes that restore the beneficial regulatory T cells (Tregs) that prevent the immune system from attacking the body’s own tissue.

“Many groups are looking at the ability of BCG vaccination to reverse autoimmunity,” says Faustman, who is an associate professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School...

Both the acquired immune system and innate immune system has a memory. And BCG vaccine against tuberculosis can stimulate this memory. After a BCG vaccination, the innate immune system responds better to a wide range of other infections. Mihai Netea and colleagues from Radboud university medical center discovered and described how that works. They think that the old vaccine could be useful for specific target groups, such as the elderly.

BCG, a vaccine against TB, was discovered in the 1920s and is one of the most used vaccines worldwide. In the Netherlands, the vaccine no longer falls within the national vaccination program...