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Updated: Dec 22, 2025

A Neonatal Imaging Model of Gram-Negative Bacterial Sepsis
Published on: August 12, 2020
BCG vaccination-induced emergency granulopoiesis provides rapid protection from neonatal sepsis
Byron Brook1, Danny J Harbeson1, Casey P Shannon2,3
1Department of Experimental Medicine, University of British Columbia, 2775 Laurel Street, 10th Floor, Room 10117, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9, Canada.
Abstract:
Death from sepsis in the neonatal period remains a serious threat for millions. Within 3 days of administration, bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination can reduce mortality from neonatal sepsis in human newborns, but the underlying mechanism for this rapid protection is unknown. We found that BCG was also protective in a mouse model of neonatal polymicrobial sepsis, where it induced granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) within hours of administration. This was necessary and sufficient to drive emergency granulopoiesis (EG), resulting in a marked increase in neutrophils. This increase in neutrophils was directly and quantitatively responsible for protection from sepsis. Rapid induction of EG after BCG administration also occurred in three independent cohorts of human neonates.
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