abstract: '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.

  This suggests the potential for BCG to overcome future barriers to

  vaccine roll-out in the countries where health systems are fragile and

  where the effects of this new coronavirus could be catastrophic. Many

  studies have reported cross-protective effects of the BCG vaccine toward

  non-tuberculosis related diseases. 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.'
affiliation: 'Ochando, J (Corresponding Author), Inst Salud Carlos III, Dept Immunol,
  Transplant Immunol Unit, Natl Ctr Microbiol, Madrid, Spain.

  Ochando, J (Corresponding Author), Icahn Sch Med Mt Sinai, Dept Oncol Sci, New York,
  NY 10029 USA.

  Gonzalez-Perez, Maria; Ochando, Jordi, Inst Salud Carlos III, Dept Immunol, Transplant
  Immunol Unit, Natl Ctr Microbiol, Madrid, Spain.

  Sanchez-Tarjuelo, Rodrigo; Ochando, Jordi, Icahn Sch Med Mt Sinai, Dept Oncol Sci,
  New York, NY 10029 USA.

  Shor, Boris, Manhattan BioSolut, New York, NY USA.

  Nistal-Villan, Estanislao, Univ San Pablo Ctr Estudios Univ CEU, Fac Farm, Microbiol
  Sect, Dept Ciencias Farmaceut \& Salud, Madrid, Spain.

  Nistal-Villan, Estanislao, Univ San Pablo CEU, Inst Med Mol Aplicada IMMA, Fac Med,
  Madrid, Spain.'
article-number: '632478'
author: Gonzalez-Perez, Maria and Sanchez-Tarjuelo, Rodrigo and Shor, Boris and Nistal-Villan,
  Estanislao and Ochando, Jordi
author-email: Jordi.ochando@mssm.edu.edu
author_list:
- family: Gonzalez-Perez
  given: Maria
- family: Sanchez-Tarjuelo
  given: Rodrigo
- family: Shor
  given: Boris
- family: Nistal-Villan
  given: Estanislao
- family: Ochando
  given: Jordi
da: '2023-09-28'
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.632478
files: []
issn: 1664-3224
journal: FRONTIERS IN IMMUNOLOGY
keywords: 'Bacille Calmette-Guerin; SARS-CoV-2; vaccination; trained immunity;

  cross-protection'
keywords-plus: 'BACILLUS-CALMETTE-GUERIN; RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS; TRAINED IMMUNITY;

  NONSPECIFIC PROTECTION; GUINEA-BISSAU; RECOMBINANT; INFECTION;

  RESPONSES; EFFICACY; MEMORY'
language: English
month: MAR 8
number-of-cited-references: '68'
orcid-numbers: 'Ochando, jordi/0000-0001-7037-1681

  Nistal-Villan, Estanislao/0000-0003-2458-8833

  Gonzalez Perez, Maria/0000-0003-0838-4734

  Sanchez Tarjuelo, Rodrigo/0000-0002-3252-2722'
papis_id: 409cc5f0651b9c4f28972a54ac5577cc
ref: Gonzalezperez2021bcgvaccine
researcherid-numbers: 'Ochando, jordi/ABE-2358-2020

  Nistal-Villan, Estanislao/GWM-7994-2022

  Nistal-Villan, Estanislao/C-6122-2015

  '
tags:
- review
times-cited: '43'
title: 'The BCG Vaccine for COVID-19: First Verdict and Future Directions'
type: Review
unique-id: WOS:000630922700001
usage-count-last-180-days: '0'
usage-count-since-2013: '4'
volume: '12'
web-of-science-categories: Immunology
year: '2021'