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Mycobacterium ulcerans-specific immune response after immunisation with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine
Laure F Pittet1, Marc Tebruegge2, Binita Dutta3
1Infectious Diseases Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Infectious Diseases Unit, The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
Background:
Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine provides partial protection against Buruli ulcer caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans in epidemiological studies. This study aimed to quantify M. ulcerans-specific immune responses induced by BCG immunisation.
Methods:
Intracellular cytokine analysis of in-vitro experiments done 10 weeks after BCG immunisation in 130 Australian infants randomised to one of three BCG vaccine strains given either at birth (BCG-Denmark, BCG-Japan, or BCG-Russia) or at two months of age (BCG-Denmark).
Results:
Proportions of polyfunctional CD4+ T-cells were higher in M. ulcerans-stimulated compared to unstimulated control samples. These proportions were not influenced by the vaccine strain or timing of the immunisation. The M. ulcerans-specific immune responses showed similar patterns to those observed in M. tuberculosis-stimulated samples, although they were of lower magnitude.
Conclusions:
Our data show that BCG immunisation induces M. ulcerans-specific immune responses in infants, likely explaining the cross-protective effect observed in epidemiological studies. (ACTRN12608000227392).
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