BCG Vaccine with Multiple Roles

In an effort to create a tuberculosis vaccine, Albert Calmette and Camille Guérin created a stable, nonvirulent attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis in early 1921 in France. They called it Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG).

Bacillus Calmette-Guerin is one of the oldest vaccines in use. All children born in nations with a high incidence of tuberculosis should receive the BCG vaccine, according to the World Health Organization.

It has been documented during the past few decades that the BCG vaccine has extensive immunological effects. BCG has a lot of positive traits, including a long history of safety in humans, thermal stability, affordable manufacture, the capacity to strongly elicit mucosal immunity when given via the appropriate mucosal route, as well as humoral and long-lasting CD4+ type 1 helper T cell (Th1) immunity.

BCG is a desirable bacterial vector for creating potential vaccines. Particularly, recombinant BCG has been utilized to create vaccine candidates for a wide range of illnesses and pathogens, including cancers, parasite infections, viruses, and bacterial infections. BCG turned out to be the first immunotherapy to successfully treat advanced bladder cancer in humans as well as other neoplasms.

Mycobacterium and the human host interact biologically in a complex way that is yet only partially understood. Recent developments in fields like mycobacterial immunology and genetics have sparked research on more general applications utilizing a variety of fresh methods. Some of the uses are highlighted here.