Furthermore,

BCG selleck products has been shown to act non-specifically as a primer for other vaccines [29]. Here we were able to conduct a broad analysis of the effect of BCG strain by comparing type 1 (IFN-γ), type 2 (IL-5 and IL-13) and regulatory (IL-10) responses to both mycobacteria-specific (cCFP and Ag85) and non-specific (TT and PHA) stimuli. The results revealed three significant patterns of strain-dependent variability of immune responses to both mycobacteria-specific and non-specific stimuli: higher IFN-γ and IL-13 responses in the BCG-Denmark group; lower IL-5 responses in the BCG-Bulgaria group; and higher IL-10 responses in both the BCG-Denmark and BCG-Bulgaria group compared to BCG-Russia.

Consistent with being at the greatest genetic distance from the other two strains [9], the cytokine responses of the BCG-Denmark group were the most divergent. click here Surprisingly however, they were also the highest overall, despite being most distantly related to the original M. bovis strain [37]. It is also interesting that BCG-Bulgaria and BCG-Russia behaved slightly differently in this cohort, despite being genetically identical, except for possible single nucleotide changes [38]. As all infants were immunised with BCG, it is uncertain how these findings would relate to non-specific responses (such as the response to TT) amongst BCG-unvaccinated infants, however, differences between strains in non-specific effects were clearly demonstrated. It is possible that the greater immunogenicity of BCG-Denmark may lead to better protection against TB. However, IFN-γ alone Resveratrol is an insufficient protective marker and it is feasible

that higher regulatory IL-10 production in the same group may counteract its effects [39]. The observation that IL-10 production differed between strains is contrary to a recent study [28] that found that BCG did not stimulate an IL-10 response. This analysis suggests that the ability of BCG to stimulate an IL-10 response may be strain-dependent, although a study that compared BCG-Denmark to BCG-Brazil and BCG-Japan, found no such differences [16]. Importantly, the differences across groups were observed in response to TT and PHA as well as to mycobacterial antigens, suggesting that the non-specific effects of BCG immunisation are likely to be dependent on the strain administered. The finding for TT specifically indicates that BCG strain differences can modulate the infant response to subsequent, unrelated exposures to antigens, including vaccines (and presumably, pathogens). There was striking disparity in BCG scar frequency between groups, with an almost two-fold increase in scarring frequency in the BCG-Denmark group compared to the BCG-Russia group. The overall proportion with scars was 59%, despite 100% immunisation coverage at birth.