Frontiers in immunology
-
Frontiers in immunology · Jan 2021
ReviewThe BCG Vaccine for COVID-19: First Verdict and Future Directions.
Despite of the rapid development of the vaccines against the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), it will take several months to have enough doses and the proper infrastructure to vaccinate a good proportion of the world population. In this interim, the accessibility to the Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) may mitigate the pandemic impact in some countries and the BCG vaccine offers significant advantages and flexibility in the way clinical vaccines are administered. BCG vaccination is a highly cost-effective intervention against tuberculosis (TB) and many low-and lower-middle-income countries would likely have the infrastructure, and health care personnel sufficiently familiar with the conventional TB vaccine to mount full-scale efforts to administer novel BCG-based vaccine for COVID-19. ⋯ Mechanistically, this cross-protective effect of the BCG vaccine can be explained, in part, by trained immunity, a recently discovered program of innate immune memory, which is characterized by non-permanent epigenetic reprogramming of macrophages that leads to increased inflammatory cytokine production and consequently potent immune responses. In this review, we summarize recent work highlighting the potential use of BCG for the treatment respiratory infectious diseases and ongoing SARS-CoV-2 clinical trials. In situations where no other specific prophylactic tools are available, the BCG vaccine could be used as a potential adjuvant, to decrease sickness of SARS-CoV-2 infection and/or to mitigate the effects of concurrent respiratory infections.
-
Frontiers in immunology · Jan 2021
Two Different Antibody-Dependent Enhancement (ADE) Risks for SARS-CoV-2 Antibodies.
COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) disease severity and stages varies from asymptomatic, mild flu-like symptoms, moderate, severe, critical, and chronic disease. COVID-19 disease progression include lymphopenia, elevated proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines, accumulation of macrophages and neutrophils in lungs, immune dysregulation, cytokine storms, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), etc. Development of vaccines to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and other coronavirus has been difficult to create due to vaccine induced enhanced disease responses in animal models. ⋯ SARS-CoV-2 antibodies bound to Fc receptors on macrophages and mast cells may represent two different mechanisms for ADE in patients. These two different ADE risks have possible implications for SARS-CoV-2 B-cell vaccines for subsets of populations based on age, cross-reactive antibodies, variabilities in antibody levels over time, and pregnancy. These models place increased emphasis on the importance of developing safe SARS-CoV-2 T cell vaccines that are not dependent upon antibodies.
-
Frontiers in immunology · Jan 2021
ReviewImmune System, Microbiota, and Microbial Metabolites: The Unresolved Triad in Colorectal Cancer Microenvironment.
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common cancers worldwide. As with other cancers, CRC is a multifactorial disease due to the combined effect of genetic and environmental factors. Most cases are sporadic, but a small proportion is hereditary, estimated at around 5-10%. ⋯ Some bacteria, such as pks+ Escherichia coli or Fusobacterium nucleatum, are involved in colorectal carcinogenesis through different pathomechanisms including the induction of genetic mutations in epithelial cells and modulation of tumor microenvironment. Epithelial and immune cells from intestinal mucosa have Pattern-recognition receptors and G-protein coupled receptors (receptor of butyrate), suggesting that their activation can be regulated by intestinal microbiota and metabolites. In this review, we discuss how dynamics in the gut microbiota, their metabolites, and tumor microenvironment interplays in sporadic and hereditary CRC, modulating tumor progression.
-
Frontiers in immunology · Jan 2021
ReviewPerspectives for the Use of CAR-T Cells for the Treatment of Multiple Myeloma.
During recent years considerable progress has been made in the treatment of multiple myeloma. However, despite the current improvements in the prognosis of this malignancy, it always ends with relapse, and therefore new therapy approaches for destroying resistant cancer cells are needed. Presently, there is great hope being placed in the use of immunotherapy against refractory/relapsed multiple myeloma which is unresponsive to any other currently known drugs. ⋯ Serious adverse events such as cytokine release syndrome or neurotoxicity should also be considered as possible side effects of CAR-T cell therapy. Here, we discuss the results of CAR-T cell therapy in the treatment of multiple myeloma, where we describe its main advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, we also describe the current results that have been obtained on using combinations of CAR-T cell therapies with other drugs for the treatment of multiple myeloma.
-
Frontiers in immunology · Jan 2021
Multicenter Study Observational StudyPre-Treatment Neutrophil Count as a Predictor of Antituberculosis Therapy Outcomes: A Multicenter Prospective Cohort Study.
Neutrophils have been associated with lung tissue damage in many diseases, including tuberculosis (TB). Whether neutrophil count can serve as a predictor of adverse treatment outcomes is unknown. ⋯ Increased neutrophil count prior to anti-TB treatment initiation was associated with unfavorable treatment outcomes, particularly among HIV-seronegative patients. Further prospective studies evaluating neutrophil count in response to drug treatment and association with TB treatment outcomes are warranted.