Abstract
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major global health problem and the only currently-licensed vaccine, BCG, is inadequate. Many TB vaccine candidates are designed to be given as a boost to BCG; an understanding of the BCG-induced immune response is therefore critical, and the opportunity to relate this to circumstances where BCG does confer protection may direct the design of more efficacious vaccines. While the T cell response to BCG vaccination has been well-characterized, there is a paucity of literature on the humoral response. We demonstrate BCG vaccine-mediated induction of specific antibodies in different human populations and macaque species which represent important preclinical models for TB vaccine development. We observe a strong correlation between antibody titers in serum versus plasma with modestly higher titers in serum. We also report for the first time the rapid and transient induction of antibody-secreting plasmablasts following BCG vaccination, together with a robust and durable memory B cell response in humans. Finally, we demonstrate a functional role for BCG vaccine-induced specific antibodies in opsonizing mycobacteria and enhancing macrophage phagocytosis in vitro, which may contribute to the BCG vaccine-mediated control of mycobacterial growth observed. Taken together, our findings indicate that the humoral immune response in the context of BCG vaccination merits further attention to determine whether TB vaccine candidates could benefit from the induction of humoral as well as cellular immunity.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 798207 |
| Journal | Frontiers in Immunology |
| Volume | 12 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 5 Jan 2022 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information: This work was funded in part by a small grant awarded to RT from the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (RSTMH); the European Research Infrastructures for Poverty Related Diseases (EURIPRED), an EC seventh framework program (grant number 312661); TBVAC2020 (grant number 643381); and the Wellcome Trust (HMcS is a Wellcome Trust Investigator, grant code WT 206331/Z/17/Z). Human Study 1 was funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (grant number OPP1112389) and human Study 2 was funded by a grant awarded to MO’S from the Wellcome Trust (grant number 103420/Z/13/Z). For the purpose of open access, the author has applied a CC BY public copyright license to any Author Accepted Manuscript version arising from this submission. This work was also supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Center (BRC).The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
Open Access: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Publisher Copyright: Copyright © 2022 Bitencourt, Peralta-Álvarez, Wilkie, Jacobs, Wright, Salman Almujri, Li, Harris, Smith, Elias, White, Satti, Sharpe, O’Shea, McShane and Tanner.
Citation: Bitencourt J, Peralta-A´lvarez MP, Wilkie M, Jacobs A, Wright D, Salman Almujri S, Li S, Harris SA, Smith SG, Elias SC, White AD, Satti I, Sharpe SS, O’Shea MK, McShane H and Tanner R (2022) Induction of Functional Specific Antibodies, IgG-Secreting Plasmablasts and Memory B Cells Following BCG Vaccination. Front. Immunol. 12:798207.
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.798207
Keywords
- B cells
- BCG
- TB
- antibodies
- humoral immunity
- tuberculosis
- vaccine
