BCG vaccination significantly diminished proinflammatory responses in elderly individuals in COVID-19 hot spots. We investigated the influence of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination on the unstimulated plasma levels of a wide panel of cytokines, chemokines, acute-phase proteins (APPs), matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), and growth factors in a group of healthy elderly individuals (age, 60 to 80 years) at baseline (before vaccination) and 1 month after vaccination as part of our clinical study to examine the effect of BCG on COVID-19. Our results demonstrated that BCG vaccination resulted in diminished plasma levels of types 1, 2, and 17 and other proinflammatory cytokines and type 1 interferons. BCG vaccination also resulted in decreased plasma levels of CC, CXC chemokines, APPs, MMPs, and growth factors. Plasma levels of the aforementioned parameters were significantly lower in vaccinated individuals when compared to unvaccinated control individuals. Thus, our study demonstrates the immunomodulatory properties of BCG vaccination and suggests its potential utility in nonspecific vaccination of COVID-19 by down-modulating pathogenic inflammatory responses.
【초록키워드】 COVID-19, vaccination, Cytokines, Inflammatory responses, interferons, Proinflammatory response, chemokines, Growth factors, Protein, BCG, plasma, age, utility, clinical study, BCG vaccination, matrix metalloproteinase, Proinflammatory cytokine, individual, pathogenic, growth factor, vaccinated individual, Bacillus, significantly lower, parameter, significantly, healthy, investigated, demonstrated, individuals, baseline, immunomodulatory property, nonspecific, Plasma level, 【제목키워드】 Proinflammatory response, BCG vaccination, individual, Effect,