Transcriptional signature of BCG vaccination. Transcriptional signature of BCG vaccination

The century-old Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) remains the only licensed vaccine against tuberculosis (TB). Despite this, there is still a lot to learn about the immune response induced by BCG, both in terms of phenotype and specificity. Here, we investigated the BCG-specific gene expression changes induced in PBMCs and CD4 memory T cells by BCG in individuals pre- and 8m post vaccination. We also determined whether reactivity against a peptide pool defined in individuals with controlled latent TB infection (MTB300), and with peptides homologous to peptides found in BCG, was boosted following BCG vaccination. Overall design: RNAseq of PBMC and sorted memory CD4 T cells from cryopreserved PBMC of 7 individuals who received BCG vaccination. Samples were taken pre- and post vaccination.