Review
Immunology
Christie C. A. Noble, Nicole L. Messina, Laure F. Pittet, Nigel Curtis
Summary: BCG vaccination has potential off-target effects on nonmycobacterial infections. Trials investigating the off-target protection of BCG against COVID-19 have shown conflicting results, likely due to differences in participant characteristics, BCG vaccination variables, outcome measures, and follow-up durations. Controlling these factors will be crucial in designing future trials and intervention strategies to fully exploit the off-target effects of BCG.
JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Simone J. C. F. M. Moorlag, Esther Taks, Thijs ten Doesschate, Thomas W. van der Vaart, Axel B. Janssen, Lisa Mueller, Philipp Ostermann, Helga Dijkstra, Heidi Lemmers, Elles Simonetti, Marc Mazur, Heiner Schaal, Rob ter Heine, Frank L. van de Veerdonk, Chantal P. Bleeker-Rovers, Reinout van Crevel, Jaap ten Oever, Marien de Jonge, Marc J. Bonten, Cornelis H. van Werkhoven, Mihai G. Netea
Summary: This study found that BCG vaccination had no significant effect in preventing respiratory tract infections, including COVID-19, in older adults. However, it was found that individuals who received the BCG vaccine had stronger antibody responses after COVID-19 infection.
CLINICAL INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2022)
Article
Immunology
Maria Tsilika, Esther Taks, Konstantinos Dolianitis, Antigone Kotsaki, Konstantinos Leventogiannis, Christina Damoulari, Maria Kostoula, Maria Paneta, Georgios Adamis, Ilias Papanikolaou, Kimon Stamatelopoulos, Amalia Bolanou, Konstantinos Katsaros, Christina Delavinia, Ioannis Perdios, Aggeliki Pandi, Konstantinos Tsiakos, Nektarios Proios, Emmanouela Kalogianni, Ioannis Delis, Efstathios Skliros, Karolina Akinosoglou, Aggeliki Perdikouli, Garyfallia Poulakou, Haralampos Milionis, Eva Athanassopoulou, Eleftheria Kalpaki, Leda Efstratiou, Varvara Perraki, Antonios Papadopoulos, Mihai G. Netea, Evangelos J. Giamarellos-Bourboulis
Summary: A recent study shows that Bacillus Calmete-Guerin (BCG) vaccination reduces the occurrence of new infections, particularly respiratory infections, in the elderly. Another study confirms the efficacy of BCG vaccination against COVID-19, with a 68% reduction in the risk of developing the disease compared to placebo. BCG vaccination also leads to a higher rate of positive anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Rheumatology
Konstantinos Thomas, Ioannis Grigoropoulos, Panagiota Alexopoulou, Emmanouil Karofylakis, Irene Galani, Kyriaki Korina Papadopoulou, Anastasia Tsiavou, Aliki Ntourou, Eleftheria Mavrou, Irina Qevani, Pelagia Katsimbri, Christos Koutsianas, Evgenia Mavrea, Dimitrios Vassilopoulos, Spyros Pournaras, Sotirios Tsiodras, Dimitrios Boumpas, Anastasia Antoniadou
Summary: This study examined the immune response to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in rheumatic patients treated with rituximab. It was found that despite undetectable anti-spike antibodies in the serum, four out of ten patients showed lasting cell-mediated immune response. The cumulative dose of rituximab had an impact on both humoral and cell-mediated responses to the vaccine. Cell-mediated immune responses may serve as an important marker of vaccine efficacy against SARS-CoV-2.
Review
Medicine, General & Internal
Jiayu Wen, Quanxian Liu, Daoyan Tang, Jian-Qing He
Summary: Based on a systematic review and meta-analysis of published randomized controlled trials, the effectiveness of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination in preventing COVID-19 infection and severe disease is inconclusive. The rates of infection, hospitalization, ICU admission, and mortality did not differ significantly between the BCG vaccination group and the control group. Current evidence does not support the use of BCG vaccination for COVID-19 prevention.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Immunology
Rachel A. Reyna, Jordyn Walker, Brooke Mitchell, Divya P. Shinde, Jessica A. Plante, Scott C. Weaver, Kenneth S. Plante
Summary: Anosmia, a common consequence of SARS-CoV-2 infection, is correlated with disease severity. Different variants of the virus can cause significant loss of smell, and vaccination does not prevent anosmia but can protect against severe disease.
Article
Immunology
Chaojie Zhong, Hongjie Xia, Awadalkareem Adam, Binbin Wang, Renee L. Hajnik, Yuejin Liang, Grace H. Rafael, Jing Zou, Xiaofang Wang, Jiaren Sun, Lynn Soong, Alan D. T. Barrett, Scott C. Weaver, Pei-Yong Shi, Tian Wang, Haitao Hu
Summary: The candidate multigenic SARS-CoV-2 vaccine based on an MVA vector expressing viral N and S proteins induced T-cell responses and binding antibodies, but not neutralizing antibodies. Intranasal immunization with the vaccine reduced viral loads and lung inflammation in mice after SARS-CoV-2 challenge, correlated with T-cell response in the lung, indicating the importance of T-cell immunity for protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection in addition to neutralizing antibodies.
Article
Immunology
Chon Phin Ong, Kaiming Tang, Pak-Hin Hinson Cheung, Hongzhuo Zhang, Tze-Tung Tang, Yaqian Xue, Junjue Wang, Kelvin Kai-Wang To, Shuofeng Yuan, Zi-Wei Ye, Dong-Yan Jin
Summary: In this study, the protective effects of inactivated SARS-CoV-2 vaccines derived from different strains against multiple variants in Syrian golden hamsters were compared. Vaccination with the currently circulating BA.5.2 strain effectively protected against Omicron subvariants, but not Alpha or Delta variant. In contrast, vaccination with the ancestral strain demonstrated decent neutralization activity against both Omicron and non-Omicron variants. These findings can provide guidance for the future design of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Stijn P. Andeweg, Brechje de Gier, Dirk Eggink, Caroline van den Ende, Noortje van Maarseveen, Lubna Ali, Boris Vlaemynck, Raf Schepers, Susan J. M. Hahne, Chantal B. E. M. Reusken, Hester E. de Melker, Susan van den Hof, Mirjam J. Knol
Summary: Protection against Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 infection is low, but booster vaccines temporarily increase protection. Previous infection, primary vaccination, and booster vaccination offer similar protection against Omicron BA.1 and BA.2 infection. Higher protection is observed in individuals with both vaccination and previous infection.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Jean B. Nachega, Markus Maeurer, Nadia A. Sam-Agudu, Jeremiah Chakaya, Patrick D. M. Katoto, Alimuddin Zumla
Summary: The BCG vaccine has been a subject of controversy for years, but recent studies suggest it may provide cross protection against severe forms of COVID-19. Ongoing trials could shed light on the mechanisms underlying BCG-mediated immunity, potentially leading to improved efficacy and increased tolerance of treatment.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2021)
Article
Immunology
Claudio Counoupas, Matt D. Johansen, Alberto O. Stella, Duc H. Nguyen, Angela L. Ferguson, Anupriya Aggarwal, Nayan D. Bhattacharyya, Alice Grey, Owen Hutchings, Karishma Patel, Rezwan Siddiquee, Erica L. Stewart, Carl G. Feng, Nicole G. Hansbro, Umaimainthan Palendira, Megan C. Steain, Bernadette M. Saunders, Jason K. K. Low, Joel P. Mackay, Anthony D. Kelleher, Warwick J. Britton, Stuart G. Turville, Philip M. Hansbro, James A. Triccas
Summary: This study demonstrates the potential of a BCG-based vaccine to provide protection against major SARS-CoV-2 variants by inducing potent virus-specific immune responses. Pre-treatment with BCG:CoVac followed by a heterologous vaccine boosts SARS-CoV-2-specific antibody responses effectively neutralizing key variants.
Article
Engineering, Biomedical
Si Sun, Entao Li, Gan Zhao, Jie Tang, Qianfei Zuo, Larry Cai, Chuanfei Xu, Cheng Sui, Yangxue Ou, Chang Liu, Haibo Li, Yuan Ding, Chao Li, Dongshui Lu, Weijun Zhang, Ping Luo, Ping Cheng, Yuwei Gao, Changchun Tu, Bruno Pitard, Joseph Rosenecker, Bin Wang, Yan Liu, Quanming Zou, Shan Guan
Summary: This study used self-assembled peptide-poloxamine nanoparticles for pulmonary inoculation of a COVID-19 DNA vaccine, which showed superior gene transfection and biocompatibility in the mouse airway. The vaccine induced mucosal immune responses against SARS-CoV-2, resulting in complete elimination of the infection and 100% survival rate in mice.
Article
Virology
Charles B. Stauft, Prabhuanand Selvaraj, Christopher Z. Lien, Matthew F. Starost, Tony T. Wang
Summary: COVID-19 vaccines provide high levels of protection against severe disease and hospitalization, but may be less effective in preventing viral shedding in immune patients. This study used convalescent hamsters with long-term immunity to model recurring COVID-19 and found breakthrough infections and viral shedding despite no significant replication in the lower respiratory tract.
JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Immunology
Xinyue Chang, Xuelan Liu, Byron Martina, Andris Zeltins, Gilles Augusto, Monique Vogel, Mona O. Mohsen, Daniel E. Speiser, Martin F. Bachmann
Summary: SARS-CoV-2 has developed variants of concern with increased infectivity and reduced recognition by neutralizing antibodies. Vaccines induced antibodies that recognized wild type virus well but showed reduced binding to variant viruses. This suggests that inherent differences in the RBDs of the virus can lead to the production of neutralizing antibodies.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Infectious Diseases
Thomas Perkmann, Nicole Perkmann-Nagele, Patrick Mucher, Astrid Radakovics, Manuela Repl, Thomas Koller, Galateja Jordakieva, Oswald F. Wagner, Christoph J. Binder, Helmuth Haslacher
Summary: The study suggests that antibody levels quantified before the booster shot with the Roche Elecsys SARS-CoV-2 S assay may predict post-booster responses to BNT162b2, but not to AZD1222. There is a vaccine-dependent effect on antibody responses, with age playing an ambivalent role in the immune response.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INFECTIOUS DISEASES
(2021)
Editorial Material
Immunology
Eva Kaufmann, Marija Landekic, Jeffrey Downey, Julia Chronopoulos, Sara Teimouri Nezhad, Kim Tran, Donald C. Vinh, Luis B. Barreiro, Maziar Divangahi
Article
Medical Laboratory Technology
Antigona Ulndreaj, Mingyue Wang, Salvia Misaghian, Louis Paone, George B. Sigal, Martin Stengelin, Christopher Campbell, Logan R. Van Nynatten, Antoninus Soosaipillai, Atefeh Ghorbani, Anu Mathew, Douglas D. Fraser, Eleftherios P. Diamandis, Ioannis Prassas
Summary: This study investigated the presence of autoantibodies in COVID-19 patients and found no significant elevation of autoantibodies in severe cases.
CLINICAL CHEMISTRY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Virology
Esther J. M. Taks, Simone J. C. F. M. Moorlag, Mihai G. Netea, Jos W. M. van der Meer
Summary: Trained immunity refers to the memory characteristics induced in innate immune cells after infection or vaccination, which enhances non-specific protection through epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming. Recent studies have shown that trained immunity can be induced by viruses and provide protection against heterologous viral infections.
ANNUAL REVIEW OF VIROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Maartje A. J. Rops, Simone J. C. F. M. Moorlag, Rosanne C. van Deuren, Martin Jaeger, Leo A. B. Joosten, Marco Medici, Mihai G. Netea, Jan W. A. Smit, Romana T. Netea-Maier
Summary: This study aimed to evaluate the incidence, severity, and presence of symptoms of respiratory tract infections and COVID-19 in patients with pre-existing thyroid dysfunction. Results showed that patients with thyroid dysfunction did not have a higher risk of self-reported sickness or microbiologically confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infections. However, clinical diagnosis of COVID-19 was more frequent in patients with thyroid diseases, despite a lower incidence of self-reported respiratory-related symptoms compared to controls.
ARCHIVES OF ENDOCRINOLOGY METABOLISM
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Samantha Bannister, Bowon Kim, Jorge Dominguez-Andres, Gizem Kilic, Brendan R. E. Ansell, Melanie R. Neeland, Simone J. C. F. M. Moorlag, Vasiliki Matzaraki, Amanda Vlahos, Rebecca Shepherd, Susie Germano, Melanie Bahlo, Nicole L. Messina, Richard Saffery, Mihai G. Netea, Nigel Curtis, Boris Novakovic
Summary: This study shows that BCG vaccination leads to long-lasting epigenetic remodeling in circulating monocytes, a phenomenon that explains the off-target protection against viral infections. The findings highlight the importance of trained immunity in the beneficial effects of BCG vaccine.
Article
Immunology
Mariska Kerstholt, Freek R. van de Schoor, Marije Oosting, Simone J. C. F. M. Moorlag, Yang Li, Martin Jaeger, Wouter A. van der Heijden, Rahajeng N. Tunjungputri, Jessica C. dos Santos, Brenda Kischker, Hedwig D. Vrijmoeth, M. E. Baarsma, Bart-Jan Kullberg, Mihaela Lupse, Joppe W. Hovius, Cees C. van den Wijngaard, Mihai G. Netea, Quirijn de Mast, Leo A. B. Joosten
Summary: This study reveals that B. burgdorferi infection decreases cytokine production in cells and lowers glycolysis. MFAP3L gene is found to influence lactate production and mediate this effect through ERK2 activation and platelet degranulation. Platelet-derived factors, such as CXCL7, play important roles in B. burgdorferi-induced cytokine production.
CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL IMMUNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Antigona Ulndreaj, Ariel Avila, James Hong, Cindy Zhou, Michael G. Fehlings, Pia M. Vidal
Summary: This study examined whether the natural progression of degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) is accompanied by hematological changes in the white blood cell composition. The results showed that T cells were decreased and monocytes were increased in the DCM group, suggesting that these changes occur before the development of neurobehavioral symptoms.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2022)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Valerie A. C. M. Koeken, Cancan Qi, Vera P. Mourits, L. Charlotte J. de Bree, Simone J. C. F. M. Moorlag, Vidhisha Sonawane, Heidi Lemmers, Helga Dijkstra, Leo A. B. Joosten, Arjan van Laarhoven, Cheng-Jian Xu, Reinout van Crevel, Mihai G. Netea, Yang Li
Summary: Circulating metabolites have a significant impact on the trained immunity induced by BCG vaccination, with the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle and glutamine metabolism being particularly important.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Erwan Pernet, Sarah Sun, Nicole Sarden, Saideep Gona, Angela Nguyen, Nargis Khan, Martin Mawhinney, Kim A. Tran, Julia Chronopoulos, Dnyandeo Amberkar, Mina Sadeghi, Alexandre Grant, Shradha Wali, Renaud Prevel, Jun Ding, James G. Martin, Ajitha Thanabalasuriar, Bryan G. Yipp, Luis B. Barreiro, Maziar Divangahi
Summary: The study reveals that neonatal neutrophil-derived 12-HETE is crucial for the self-renewal and maintenance of alveolar macrophages, and its deficiency leads to reduced AMs in adults and enhanced senescence, as well as increased susceptibility to pulmonary infections and acute lung injury.
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Mellissa Gaudet, Eva Kaufmann, Nour Jalaleddine, Andrea Mogas, Mahmood Hachim, Abiola Senok, Maziar Divangahi, Qutayba Hamid, Saba Al Heialy
Summary: Obesity increases the complications of COVID-19, but the mechanisms of SARS-CoV-2 infection in obese patients are unclear. This study used an in vitro model and RNA sequencing to investigate the effect of obesity on SARS-CoV-2 infection and identified molecular pathways involved in disease progression. The results showed higher viral load and replication in bronchial epithelial cells from obese subjects compared to non-obese subjects. RNA-Seq analysis revealed enrichment of lipid metabolism-related pathways and identified LPIN2 as a unique differentially expressed gene in infected bronchial epithelial cells from obese subjects.
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF MOLECULAR SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Cell Biology
Wenchao Li, Simone J. C. F. M. Moorlag, Valerie A. C. M. Koeken, Rutger J. Roring, L. Charlotte J. de Bree, Vera P. Mourits, Manoj K. Gupta, Bowen Zhang, Jianbo Fu, Zhenhua Zhang, Inge Grondman, Krista E. van Meijgaarden, Liang Zhou, Ahmed Alaswad, Leo A. B. Joosten, Reinout van Crevel, Cheng-Jian Xu, Mihai G. Netea, Yang Li
Summary: BCG vaccination induces trained immunity in humans, resulting in an enhanced response of innate immune cells to different stimuli. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, this study investigates the heterogeneity of trained immunity induction by BCG vaccination. The findings reveal the diverse transcriptional responses of monocytes and CD8+ T cells and their active crosstalk, the critical role of the interferon-g pathway, and the important transcription factor STAT1. The study also highlights the relevance of type I interferon and neutrophil-related transcriptional programs in sepsis patients.
Article
Immunology
Konstantin Fohse, Esther J. M. Taks, Simone J. C. F. M. Moorlag, Marc J. M. Bonten, Reinout van Crevel, Jaap ten Oever, Cornelis H. van Werkhoven, Mihai G. Netea, Josephine S. van de Maat, Jacobien J. Hoogerwerf
Summary: A recent study investigated the impact of circadian rhythm on the immunological effects induced by BCG vaccination. It found that BCG vaccination in the afternoon offered better protection against SARS-CoV-2 infections in the first six months after vaccination compared to morning vaccination.
FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Microbiology
Simone J. C. F. M. Moorlag, Jordy P. M. Coolen, Bart van den Bosch, Elisabeth Hui-Mei Jin, Jochem B. B. Buil, Heiman F. L. Wertheim, Willem J. G. Melchers
Summary: The study evaluates the clinical utility of a novel method called 16S RC-PCR for the identification of bacterial species. It shows that this method is more sensitive and accurate compared to the traditional 16S Sanger sequencing method, leading to improved clinical outcomes and patient care.
MICROBIOLOGY SPECTRUM
(2023)
