How the tuberculosis vaccine may protect against other diseases

The tuberculosis vaccine is well known to help protect against other infectious diseases, as well as cancer, but the exact mechanisms have not been clear. A study published December 6 in Cell Reports now shows that the broad-spectrum effects of the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine--the most widely used vaccine in the world--could be mediated by metabolic and epigenetic changes in white blood cells called monocytes through a process called trained immunity. This discovery could pave the way for strategies that combine immunological and metabolic stimulation to boost the effectiveness of vaccines and anti-cancer therapies.