Research Advances of Tuberculosis Vaccine and its Implication on COVID-19: Volume 2
Tuberculosis (TB) is a global infectious disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. The number of deaths caused by TB is second only to COVID-19. Therefore, vaccination plays an essential role in the prevention and control of TB. However, the efficacy of currently licensed TB vaccine, Bacilli Calmette-Guérin (BCG), varies from 0%-80% in adults, and the protection only lasts for 10~15 years. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop advanced TB vaccines against TB infections.
According to the Global Tuberculosis Report 2020 released by WHO, more than 14 vaccine candidates have been evaluated in clinical trials. However, there are still significant challenges in the development of effective vaccines against TB infection, such as unclear pathogenic mechanisms of M. tuberculosis, poor understanding of the immune balance between bacterial pathogenicity and the host immunity, and unsatisfactory protection rate in clinical trials. In addition, we also need to develop better animal models that can accurately predict the heterogeneity of the immune response against M. tuberculosis in human, and to find new markers to efficiently evaluate vaccine efficacy.
Noticeably, as COVID-19 continues threatening people's lives and health globally, the co-infection of TB and COVID-19 exacerbates patients' clinical symptoms and increases the mortality. On the other hand, a growing number of studies have indicated that the “trained immunity” induced by the BCG vaccine may protect people from SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, the underlying mechanisms of the induction of the “trained immunity” and its sustained memory is still yet to be investigated. More clinical trials are needed to study the effectiveness of the BCG vaccine against COVID-19 or co-infection with COVID-19 and TB.
This research topic hopes to provide an overview of the innate and adaptive immune responses during M. tuberculosis infection, the novel methods or technologies used in vaccine construction, and present the latest progress of novel TB vaccine development. We welcome Original Research, Clinical Trial, Mini-review, Review, Systematic Review, and Opinion related to the following subtopics. The collection of articles will include, but not limited to:
(1) Novel discovery and theory on the immune mechanisms of M. tuberculosis infection, host protective immune responses against M. tuberculosis infection.
(2) The immune mechanisms of trained immunity induced by BCG vaccine as well as potential protective effect of the vaccine BCG on COVID-19 prevention.
(3) Protective immune responses inducing by the immunotherapeutic vaccines or BCG vaccination.
(4) Novel TB vaccines and their protective mechanisms in pre-clinical and clinical studies, especially the vaccines based on new technologies or antigens.
(5) The application of new technologies such as bioinformatics, immunoinformatics, and reverse vaccinology in the design and construction of novel TB vaccines.
(6) In silico and in vivo or in vitro comparison of antigenicity, toxicity, sensitization, immunogenicity, and immune responses of TB vaccines.
(7) Animal models that more accurately predict the heterogeneity of the immune response against M. tuberculosis in humans.
(8) Studies related to vaccine immunization strategies, such as adjuvants, immunization routes, immunization doses, immunization times, etc.
This Research Topic is the third volume of the “Community Series in Research Advances of Tuberculosis Vaccine and its Implication on COVID-19: Volume II” Community Series. Please see Volume II
here