Abstract
Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) is the most widely used vaccine worldwide and has been used to prevent tuberculosis for a century. BCG also stimulates an anti-tumour immune response, which urologists have harnessed for the treatment of non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. A growing body of evidence indicates that BCG offers protection against various non-mycobacterial and viral infections. The non-specific effects of BCG occur via the induction of trained immunity and form the basis for the hypothesis that BCG vaccination could be used to protect against the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). This Perspective article highlights key milestones in the 100-year history of BCG and projects its potential role in the COVID-19 pandemic.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 611-622 |
| Number of pages | 12 |
| Journal | Nature Reviews Urology |
| Volume | 18 |
| Issue number | 10 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Oct 2021 |
Funding
S.B. declares that he has acted as a consultant for Ferring, Sanofi, ArTara and FerGene. P.C.B. declares that he is an advisory board member or equivalent for AbbVie, Asieris, AstraZeneca, Astellas, Bayer, Biosyent, BMS, EMD-Serono, Ferring, Fergene, H3-Biomedicine, Janssen, Merck, Roche, Sanofi, Urogen. He has received grant support or honoraria from iProgen, Sanofi, Bayer and GSK. P.C.B also holds a patent with Decipher Biosciences. J.J.M. declares that he acts as a consultant for Merck, AstraZeneca, Ferring, Cold Genesys, Janssen, Nucleix and Foundation Medicine. He has received research funding from AbbVie, Tesaro and Epizyme. D.M. declares that he has received grant support from AstraZeneca, Rainer Pharmaceuticals and honoraria from Janssen, Rainier Pharmaceuticals and H3 biomedicine. T.J.B. declares that he has acted as a consultant for FerGene, Genesis Biotechnology and Photocure. G.D.S declares that he is a member of clinical trial protocol committees for Merck, BMS, Janssen, Cold Genesys, Pfizer, PhotoCure and Fidia. He is or has been a scientific advisor/consultant within the past 5 years for Heat Biologics, Cold Genesys, PhotoCure, Merck, Roche/Genentech, Ciclomed, Taris Biomedical, MDxHealth, Fidia Farmaceuticals, Urogen, Ferring, Aduro, Boston Scientific, Bristol Myers Squibb, AstraZeneca, Pfizer, Janssen, Epivax Oncology, Natera, FKD, Ferring, EnGene Bio, SesenBio, BioCanCell, Nucleix, Ipsen, Combat Medical, Astellas, Fergene, Dendreon, AbbVie and Seattle Genetics. A.M.K. is a consultant or advisory board member for Abbott Molecular, Arquer Diagnostics, ArTara Therapeutics, Asieris Pharmaceuticals, AstraZeneca, BioClin Therapeutics, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cepheid, Cold Genesys, Eisai, Engene, Ferring Pharmaceuticals, FerGene, Imagine Pharma, Janssen, MDxHealth, Medac, Merck, Pfizer, Photocure, ProTara Therapeutics, Roviant Sciences, Seattle Genetics, Sessen Bio, Theralase Technologies, TMC Innovation and US Biotest. A.M.K. has received grants and/or research support from Adolor Corporation, Bristol Myers Squibb, FKD Industries, Heat Biologics, Merck, Photocure, SWOG/NIH, Specialized Programs of Research Excellence (SPORE) and AIBCCR. A.M.K. also holds the patent for Cytokine Predictors of Response to Intravesical Therapy (CyPRIT) joint with UT MD Anderson Cancer Center. The other authors declare no competing interests.
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Urology
