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BCG-iv Induces Innate Immune Protection Against M. tuberculosis

Cell 2018: BCG Educates hematopoietic stem cells to generate protective innate immunity against TB. M Divangahi

Dr. Maziar Divangahi, his lab, and collaborators at McGill University and University of Montreal published a paper in Cell. Their work shows BCG-iv induces trained immunity through education of hematopoietic stem cells and offers long-term innate immune protection against M. tuberculosis infection. 

Up until now, efforts in generating a vaccine against TB have been mainly focused on T cells, with very disappointing outcomes in both pre-clinical as well as clinical trials. Now, Dr. Divangahi’s and Barreiro’s teams have shown for the first time that when BCG is administered to mice in a way that enables access to the bone marrow, it can reprogram stem cells. Dr. Eva Kaufmann, a postdoctoral fellow working on the project, was also interviewed by Radio-Canada. (January 2018) 

About the study

BCG educates hematopoietic stem cells to generate protective innate immunity against tuberculosis by Eva Kaufmann, Joaquin Sanz, Jonathan L. Dunn, Nargis Khan, Laura E. Mendonça, Alain Pacis, Fanny Tzelepis, Erwan Pernet, Anne Dumaine, Jean-Christophe Grenier, Florence Mailhot-Léonard, Eisha Ahmed, Jad Belle, Rickvinder Besla, Bruce Mazer, Irah L. King, Anastasia Nijnik, Clinton S. Robbins, Luis B. Barreiro, and Maziar Divangahi, was published Jan. 11, 2018, in Cell. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.12.031

This study was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

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