COVID-19 Death and BCG Vaccination Programs Worldwide

Jirjees, Feras; Bashi, Yahya H. Dallal; Al-Obaidi, Hala

doi:10.4046/trd.2020.0063

Cited by 34 publications

(29 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there have been reports that patients who are BCG-vaccinated are less susceptible to serious illness and have less severe COVID-19 symptoms [82]. Several studies are currently being conducted worldwide to determine whether BCG vaccination has a protective effect against COVID-19 (clinicaltrials.gov#-NCT04537663, NCT04379336, NCT04369794, NCT04461379, NCT04347876) [82][83][84][85]. These studies indicate that the immunologic SNP panel could also be utilized as an important tool if BCG is preventative or can reduce the pathogenicity of COVID-19 as well as other infectious diseases.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Variants in Immune Related Genes as Predictors of Responsiveness to BCG Immunotherapy in Metastatic Melanoma Patients

Ramos

Shaw

Foshag

et al. 2020

Cancers

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Adjuvant immunotherapy in melanoma patients improves clinical outcomes. However, success is unpredictable due to inherited heterogeneity of immune responses. Inherent immune genes associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) may influence anti-tumor immune responses. We assessed the predictive ability of 26 immune-gene SNPs genomic panels for a clinical response to adjuvant BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) immunotherapy, using melanoma patient cohorts derived from three phase III multicenter clinical trials: AJCC (American Joint Committee on Cancer) stage IV patients given adjuvant BCG (pilot cohort; n = 92), AJCC stage III patients given adjuvant BCG (verification cohort; n = 269), and AJCC stage III patients that are sentinel lymph node (SLN) positive receiving no immunotherapy (control cohort; n = 80). The SNP panel analysis demonstrated that the responder patient group had an improved disease-free survival (DFS) (hazard ratio [HR] 1.84, 95% CI 1.09–3.13, p = 0.021) in the pilot cohort. In the verification cohort, an improved overall survival (OS) (HR 1.67, 95% CI 1.07–2.67, p = 0.025) was observed. No significant differences of SNPs were observed in DFS or OS in the control patient cohort. This study demonstrates that SNP immune genes can be utilized as a predictive tool for identifying melanoma patients that are inherently responsive to BCG and potentially other immunotherapies in the future.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genetic Variants in Immune Related Genes as Predictors of Responsiveness to BCG Immunotherapy in Metastatic Melanoma Patients

Ramos

Shaw

Foshag

et al. 2020

Cancers

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“…The lethality reported by COVID-19 in countries with BCG vaccination is about 5.8 times lower than countries without the BCG vaccination program (159). Equivalent suggestions have been made by other studies supporting the notion of using the BCG vaccine to prevent severe COVID-19 at least in the most vulnerable groups, such as the elderly and healthcare personnel (160,161). Recently, a study in a hospital from the United Arab Emirates demonstrated that a boost with the BCG vaccine in the healthcare workers could reduce the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 (162).…”

Section: Trained Immunity and Sars-cov-2 Infectionmentioning

confidence: 96%

SARS-CoV-2: Immune Response Elicited by Infection and Development of Vaccines and Treatments

et al. 2020

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The World Health Organization (WHO) announced in March a pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). This new infectious disease was named Coronavirus Disease 19 (COVID-19), and at October 2020, more than 39,000,000 cases of SARS-CoV-2 have been detected worldwide leading to near 1,100,000 deaths. Clinically, COVID-19 is characterized by clinical manifestations, such as fever, dry cough, headache, and in more severe cases, respiratory distress. Moreover, neurological-, cardiac-, and renal-related symptoms have also been described. Clinical evidence suggests that migration of immune cells to the affected organs can produce an exacerbated release of proinflammatory mediators that contribute to disease and render the immune response as a major player during the development of the COVID-19 disease. Due to the current sanitary situation, the development of vaccines is imperative. Up to the date, 42 prototypes are being tested in humans in different clinical stages, with 10 vaccine candidates undergoing evaluation in phase III clinical trials. In the same way, the search for an effective treatment to approach the most severe cases is also in constant advancement. Several potential therapies have been tested since COVID-19 was described, including antivirals, antiparasitic and immune modulators. Recently, clinical trials with hydroxychloroquine—a promising drug in the beginning—were suspended. In addition, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved convalescent serum administration as a treatment for SARS-CoV-2 patients. Moreover, monoclonal antibody therapy is also under development to neutralize the virus and prevent infection. In this article, we describe the clinical manifestations and the immunological information available about COVID-19 disease. Furthermore, we discuss current therapies under study and the development of vaccines to prevent this disease.

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“…Honorary professor, Dr DY Patil Univerity, Pune, India Email: wviroj@yahoo.com Dear Editor, I would like to share ideas on the publication "COVID-19 death and BCG vaccination programs worldwide. [1]". Jirjees et al concluded that "it can be concluded that the early establishment of BCG vaccination policy in any country is a key element in reducing the number of COVID-19 and tuberculosis death cases [1]."…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[1]". Jirjees et al concluded that "it can be concluded that the early establishment of BCG vaccination policy in any country is a key element in reducing the number of COVID-19 and tuberculosis death cases [1]." The interrelationship between COVID-19 and tuberculosis is interesting.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dear Editor, I would like to share ideas on the publication “COVID-19 Death and BCG Vaccination Programs Worldwide” [ 1 ]. Jirjees et al [ 1 ] concluded that “it can be concluded that the early establishment of BCG vaccination policy in any country is a key element in reducing the number of COVID-19 and tuberculosis death cases.” The interrelationship between coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and tuberculosis is interesting. Whether bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) can help prevent the infection and mortality due to COVID-19 is an issue to be further studied.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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