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Krysztopa-Grzybowska K, Lach J, Polak M, Strapagiel D, Dziadek J, Olszewski M, Zasada AA, Darlińska A, Lutyńska A, Augustynowicz-Kopeć E. The whole genome sequence of Polish vaccine strain Mycobacterium bovis BCG Moreau. Microbiol Spectr 2024; 12:e0425923. [PMID: 38757975 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.04259-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Accepted: 04/24/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Currently, tuberculosis immunoprophylaxis is based solely on Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination, and some of the new potential tuberculosis vaccines are based on the BCG genome. Therefore, it is reasonable to analyze the genomes of individual BCG substrains. The aim of this study was the genetic characterization of the BCG-Moreau Polish (PL) strain used for the production of the BCG vaccine in Poland since 1955. Sequencing of different BCG lots showed that the strain was stable over a period of 59 years. As a result of comparison, BCG-Moreau PL with BCG-Moreau Rio de Janeiro (RDJ) 143 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and 32 insertion/deletion mutations (INDELs) were identified. However, the verification of these mutations showed that the most significant were accumulated in the BCG-Moreau RDJ genome. The mutations unique to the Polish strain genome are 1 SNP and 2 INDEL. The strategy of combining short-read sequencing with long-read sequencing is currently the most optimal approach for sequencing bacterial genomes. With this approach, the only available genomic sequence of BCG-Moreau PL was obtained. This sequence will primarily be a reference point in the genetic control of the stability of the vaccine strain in the future. The results enrich knowledge about the microevolution and attenuation of the BCG vaccine substrains. IMPORTANCE The whole genome sequence obtained is the only genomic sequence of the strain that has been used for vaccine production in Poland since 1955. Sequencing of different BCG lots showed that the strain was stable over a period of 59 years. The comprehensive genomic analysis performed not only enriches knowledge about the microevolution and attenuation of the BCG vaccine substrains but also enables the utilization of identified markers as a reference point in the genetic control and identity tests of the stability of the vaccine strain in the future.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katarzyna Krysztopa-Grzybowska
- Department of Sera and Vaccines Evaluation, National Institute of Public Health NIH - National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Jakub Lach
- Biobank Lab, Department of Oncobiology and Epigenetics, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
| | - Maciej Polak
- Department of Sera and Vaccines Evaluation, National Institute of Public Health NIH - National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Dominik Strapagiel
- Biobank Lab, Department of Oncobiology and Epigenetics, Faculty of Biology and Environmental Protection, University of Lodz, Lodz, Poland
| | - Jaroslaw Dziadek
- Mycobacterium Genetics and Physiology Unit, Institute of Medical Biology, Polish Academy of Sciences, Lodz, Poland
| | - Marcin Olszewski
- Chair of Drug and Cosmetics Biotechnology, Faculty of Chemistry, Warsaw University of Technology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Aleksandra A Zasada
- Department of Sera and Vaccines Evaluation, National Institute of Public Health NIH - National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Aniela Darlińska
- Department of Sera and Vaccines Evaluation, National Institute of Public Health NIH - National Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Anna Lutyńska
- Department of Medical Biology, National Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Ewa Augustynowicz-Kopeć
- Department of Microbiology, National Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
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Liu K, Zhao H, Chen X, Nicoletti R, Vasdev N, Chiu PKF, Ng CF, Kawada T, Laukhtina E, Mori K, Yanagisawa T, D'Andrea D, von Deimling M, Albisinni S, Krajewski W, Pradere B, Soria F, Moschini M, Enikeev D, Shariat S, Kamat A, Giannarini G, Teoh JYC. A Territory-wide Study Investigating the Dose and Efficacy of Different Bacillus Calmette-Guérin Strains in Patients with Intermediate- and High-risk Non-muscle-invasive Bladder Cancer. Eur Urol Oncol 2024; 7:438-446. [PMID: 37827948 DOI: 10.1016/j.euo.2023.09.014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/02/2023] [Revised: 08/30/2023] [Accepted: 09/01/2023] [Indexed: 10/14/2023]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Current European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines support adjuvant intravesical Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) treatment after Transurethral Resection of Bladder Tumor (TURB) for intermediate- or high-risk Non-Muscle-Invasive Bladder Cancer (NMIBC) patients, aiming to reduce the risk of tumor recurrence. The quality of data, however, does not allow definitive conclusions on whether different strains and dosages of BCG have different efficacies on long-term survival outcomes. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the long-term survival outcomes of different strains and dosages of BCG in patients with NMIBC. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS All NMIBC patients treated with intravesical BCG therapy from 2001 to 2020 were identified using a territory-wide database in Hong Kong. INTERVENTION BCG strains and dosages (Connaught strain 81 mg, Connaught strain 27 mg, Tokyo strain 80 mg, and Danish strain 30 mg) were retrieved from medical records. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS Overall Survival (OS), Cancer-Specific Survival (CSS), Recurrence-Free Survival (RFS), and Progression-Free Survival (PFS) were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. A multivariable Cox regression analysis was used to adjust potential confounding factors, and to estimate Hazard Ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of different BCG strains. A further subgroup analysis on adequate versus inadequate BCG treatment was performed. RESULTS AND LIMITATIONS A total of 2602 NMIBC patients treated with intravesical BCG were identified. Among them, 1291 (49.6%) received Connaught strain 81 mg, 199 (7.6%) received Connaught strain 27 mg, 1014 (39.0%) received Tokyo strain, and 98 (3.8%) received Danish strain. The median follow-up was 11.0 years. No statistically significant differences in OS, CSS, RFS, and PFS were detected among the different groups. At the multivariable analysis, the Connaught strain 27 mg group was inferior to the Connaught strain 81 mg group in terms of OS (HR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.05-1.51), CSS (HR: 1.69, 95% CI: 1.08-2.66), and PFS (HR: 1.86, 95% CI: 1.20-2.88). Adequate BCG treatment was associated with improved OS (HR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.73-0.92), CSS (HR: 0.64, 95% CI: 0.47-0.86), RFS (HR: 0.80, 95% CI: 0.70-0.92), and PFS (HR: 0.52, 95% CI: 0.39-0.68). Among patients treated with adequate BCG, at the multivariable analysis the Connaught strain 27 mg group showed worse results than the Connaught strain 81 mg group in terms of CSS (HR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.07-3.51). Compared with the Connaught strain 81 mg group, both Tokyo and Danish strains had similar survival outcomes in the whole cohort and the adequate BCG treatment subgroup. CONCLUSIONS Our findings suggest that adequate BCG remains the most important factor in optimizing survival outcomes in patients with intermediate- and high-risk NMIBC. No significant differences in survival outcomes were observed between full-dose Connaught, Tokyo, and Danish strains. Reduced-dose Connaught strain was associated with the worst survival outcomes. PATIENT SUMMARY We evaluated the efficacy of different strains and dosages of bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) in patients with intermediate- or high-risk non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer in the past two decades in Hong Kong. We conclude no significant differences in long-term survival outcomes in terms of full-dose Connaught, Tokyo, and Danish strains, while reduced-dose Connaught strain was inferior to the full-dose group. Adequate BCG treatment benefits long-term survival.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kang Liu
- S.H. Ho Urology Centre, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Hongda Zhao
- S.H. Ho Urology Centre, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Xuan Chen
- S.H. Ho Urology Centre, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Rossella Nicoletti
- S.H. Ho Urology Centre, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Science, University of Florence, Florence, Italy
| | - Nikhil Vasdev
- Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire Urological Cancer Centre, Department of Urology, Lister Hospital, Stevenage, UK; School of Life and Medical Sciences, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UK
| | - Peter Ka-Fung Chiu
- S.H. Ho Urology Centre, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Chi-Fai Ng
- S.H. Ho Urology Centre, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
| | - Tatsushi Kawada
- Department of Urology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan
| | | | - Keiichiro Mori
- Department of Urology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Takafumi Yanagisawa
- Department of Urology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, The Jikei University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
| | - David D'Andrea
- Department of Urology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Markus von Deimling
- Department of Urology, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Simone Albisinni
- Urology Unit, Department of Surgical Sciences, Tor Vergata University Hospital, University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
| | - Wojciech Krajewski
- Department of Minimally Invasive and Robotic Urology, Wrocław Medical University, Wrocław, Poland
| | - Benjamin Pradere
- Department of Urology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, La Croix du Sud Hospital, Quint Fonsegrives, France
| | - Francesco Soria
- AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza di Torino, Torino School of Medicine, Torino, Italy
| | - Marco Moschini
- Department of Urology, San Raffaele Hospital and Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Dmitry Enikeev
- Department of Urology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Institute for Urology and Reproductive Health, Sechenov University, Moscow, Russia; Karl Landsteiner Institute of Urology and Andrology, Vienna, Austria; Rabin Medical Center, Petah Tikva, Israel and Medical University of Vienna, Austria
| | - Shahrokh Shariat
- Department of Urology, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria; Institute for Urology and Reproductive Health, Sechenov University, Moscow, Russia; Karl Landsteiner Institute of Urology and Andrology, Vienna, Austria; Department of Urology, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA; Department of Urology, University of Texas Southwestern, Dallas, TX, USA; Hourani Center of Applied Scientific Research, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman, Jordan; Department of Urology, Second Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
| | - Ashish Kamat
- Department of Urology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Gianluca Giannarini
- Unit of Urology, Santa Maria della Misericordia Academic Medical Center, Udine, Italy
| | - Jeremy Yuen-Chun Teoh
- S.H. Ho Urology Centre, Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
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Xu JC, Chen ZY, Huang XJ, Wu J, Huang H, Niu LF, Wang HL, Li JH, Lowrie DB, Hu Z, Lu SH, Fan XY. Multi-omics analysis reveals that linoleic acid metabolism is associated with variations of trained immunity induced by distinct BCG strains. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2024; 10:eadk8093. [PMID: 38578989 PMCID: PMC10997199 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adk8093] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/12/2023] [Accepted: 03/04/2024] [Indexed: 04/07/2024]
Abstract
Trained immunity is one of the mechanisms by which BCG vaccination confers persistent nonspecific protection against diverse diseases. Genomic differences between the different BCG vaccine strains that are in global use could result in variable protection against tuberculosis and therapeutic effects on bladder cancer. In this study, we found that four representative BCG strains (BCG-Russia, BCG-Sweden, BCG-China, and BCG-Pasteur) covering all four genetic clusters differed in their ability to induce trained immunity and nonspecific protection. The trained immunity induced by BCG was associated with the Akt-mTOR-HIF1α axis, glycolysis, and NOD-like receptor signaling pathway. Multi-omics analysis (epigenomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics) showed that linoleic acid metabolism was correlated with the trained immunity-inducing capacity of different BCG strains. Linoleic acid participated in the induction of trained immunity and could act as adjuvants to enhance BCG-induced trained immunity, revealing a trained immunity-inducing signaling pathway that could be used in the adjuvant development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jin-Chuan Xu
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Zhen-Yan Chen
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Xue-Jiao Huang
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Juan Wu
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Huan Huang
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Liang-Fei Niu
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Hui-Ling Wang
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jian-Hui Li
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Douglas B. Lowrie
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Zhidong Hu
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Shui-hua Lu
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
| | - Xiao-Yong Fan
- Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center and Shanghai Institute of Infectious Diseases and Biosecurity, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- National Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People’s Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China
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Unda M, Cozar-Olmo JM, Alvarez-Osorio JL. Why is it necessary to produce a BCG strain in Spain? Actas Urol Esp 2024:S2173-5786(24)00030-1. [PMID: 38570032 DOI: 10.1016/j.acuroe.2024.04.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2024] [Accepted: 01/12/2024] [Indexed: 04/05/2024]
Affiliation(s)
- M Unda
- Comité Científico del Ensayo Clínico ENCORE-01; Laboratorio Mixto de Investigación Traslacional en Cáncer de Próstata, CICbioGUNE-Basurto, IIS Biobizkaia; CIBERONC; Dirección Oficina de Relaciones con la Administración Sanitaria de la AEU.
| | - J M Cozar-Olmo
- Comité Científico del Ensayo Clínico ENCORE-01; Servicio de Urología, Hospital Universitario Virgen de las Nieves, Granada, Spain; Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain
| | - J L Alvarez-Osorio
- Comité Científico del Ensayo Clínico ENCORE-01; Servicio de Urología, Hospital Universitario Puerta del Mar, Cádiz, Spain; Presidencia de la Asociación Española de Urología (AEU); Presidencia de la Fundación para la Investigación en Urología de la AEU
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Nguyen SV, Puthuveetil NP, Petrone JR, Kirkland JL, Gaffney K, Tabron CL, Wax N, Duncan J, King S, Marlow R, Reese AL, Yarmosh DA, McConnell HH, Fernandes AS, Bagnoli J, Benton B, Jacobs JL. The ATCC genome portal: 3,938 authenticated microbial reference genomes. Microbiol Resour Announc 2024; 13:e0104523. [PMID: 38289057 PMCID: PMC10868203 DOI: 10.1128/mra.01045-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2023] [Accepted: 01/04/2024] [Indexed: 02/16/2024] Open
Abstract
The ATCC Genome Portal (AGP, https://genomes.atcc.org/) is a database of authenticated genomes for bacteria, fungi, protists, and viruses held in ATCC's biorepository. It now includes 3,938 assemblies (253% increase) produced under ISO 9000 by ATCC. Here, we present new features and content added to the AGP for the research community.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Noah Wax
- ATCC, University Blvd, Manassas, Virginia, USA
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García-Bengoa M, Vergara EJ, Tran AC, Bossi L, Cooper AM, Pearl JE, Mussá T, von Köckritz-Blickwede M, Singh M, Reljic R. Immunogenicity of PE18, PE31, and PPE26 proteins from Mycobacterium tuberculosis in humans and mice. Front Immunol 2023; 14:1307429. [PMID: 38124744 PMCID: PMC10730732 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2023.1307429] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/04/2023] [Accepted: 11/21/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction The large family of PE and PPE proteins accounts for as much as 10% of the genome of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. In this study, we explored the immunogenicity of three proteins from this family, PE18, PE31, and PPE26, in humans and mice. Methods The investigation involved analyzing the immunoreactivity of the selected proteins using sera from TB patients, IGRA-positive household contacts, and IGRA-negative BCG vaccinated healthy donors from the TB endemic country Mozambique. Antigen-recall responses were examined in PBMC from these groups, including the evaluation of cellular responses in healthy unexposed individuals. Moreover, systemic priming and intranasal boosting with each protein, combined with the Quil-A adjuvant, were conducted in mice. Results We found that all three proteins are immunoreactive with sera from TB patients, IGRA-positive household contacts, and IGRA-negative BCG vaccinated healthy controls. Likewise, antigen-recall responses were induced in PBMC from all groups, and the proteins stimulated proliferation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells from healthy unexposed individuals. In mice, all three antigens induced IgG antibody responses in sera and predominantly IgG, rather than IgA, responses in bronchoalveolar lavage. Additionally, CD4+ and CD8+ effector memory T cell responses were observed in the spleen, with PE18 demonstrating the ability to induce tissue-resident memory T cells in the lungs. Discussion Having demonstrated immunogenicity in both humans and mice, the protective capacity of these antigens was evaluated by challenging immunized mice with low-dose aerosol of Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv. The in vitro Mycobacterial Growth Inhibition Assay (MGIA) and assessment of viable bacteria in the lung did not demonstrate any ability of the vaccination protocol to reduce bacterial growth. We therefore concluded that these three specific PE/PPE proteins, while immunogenic in both humans and mice, were unable to confer protective immunity under these conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- María García-Bengoa
- Institute of Biochemistry, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany
- Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonosis (RIZ), University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany
- LIONEX Diagnostics and Therapeutics GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Emil Joseph Vergara
- Institute for Infection and Immunity, St. George’s University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Andy C. Tran
- Institute for Infection and Immunity, St. George’s University of London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Lorenzo Bossi
- Immunxperts SA, a Q² Solutions Company, Gosselies, Belgium
| | - Andrea M. Cooper
- Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - John E. Pearl
- Department of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Tufária Mussá
- Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Eduardo Mondlane University, Maputo, Mozambique
| | - Maren von Köckritz-Blickwede
- Institute of Biochemistry, University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany
- Research Center for Emerging Infections and Zoonosis (RIZ), University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover, Hannover, Germany
| | - Mahavir Singh
- LIONEX Diagnostics and Therapeutics GmbH, Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Rajko Reljic
- Institute for Infection and Immunity, St. George’s University of London, London, United Kingdom
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Corrêa PR, Schwarz MGA, Maia RM, Vergara FMF, Moraes MO, Mendonça-Lima L. Differences in responses to the intracellular macrophage environment between Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccine strains Moreau and Pasteur. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2023; 118:e230070. [PMID: 37851722 PMCID: PMC10581373 DOI: 10.1590/0074-02760230070] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/14/2022] [Accepted: 09/05/2023] [Indexed: 10/20/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine comprises a family of strains with variable protective efficacy against pulmonary tuberculosis (TB) and leprosy, partly due to genetic differences between strains. OBJECTIVES Previous data highlighting differences between the genomes and proteomic profiles of BCG strains Moreau and Pasteur led us to evaluate their behaviour in the macrophage microenvironment, capable of stimulating molecular responses that can impact the protective effect of the vaccine. METHODS Strain infectivity, viability, co-localisation with acidified vesicles, macrophage secretion of IL-1 and MCP-1 and lipid droplet biogenesis were evaluated after infection. FINDINGS We found that BCG Moreau is internalised more efficiently, with significantly better intracellular survival up to 96 h p.i., whereas more BCG Pasteur bacilli were found co-localised in acidified vesicles up to 6 h p.i. IL-1β and MCP-1 secretion and lipid droplet biogenesis by infected macrophages were more prominent in response to BCG Pasteur. MAIN CONCLUSION Overall, our results show that, compared to Pasteur, BCG Moreau has increased fitness and better endurance in the harsh intracellular environment, also regulating anti-microbial responses (lower IL-1b and MCP-1). These findings contribute to the understanding of the physiology of BCG Moreau and Pasteur in response to the intraphagosomal environment in a THP-1 macrophage model.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paloma Rezende Corrêa
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Marcos Gustavo Araujo Schwarz
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Renata Monteiro Maia
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Biologia Molecular de Insetos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Fátima Maria Figueroa Vergara
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto de Tecnologia em Fármacos, Laboratório de Farmacologia Aplicada, Farmanguinhos, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Centro de Desenvolvimento Tecnológico em Saúde, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Milton Ozório Moraes
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Hanseníase, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Leila Mendonça-Lima
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
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Schwarz MGA, Corrêa PR, Mendonça-Lima L. Transcriptional Profiling of Homologous Recombination Pathway Genes in Mycobacterium bovis BCG Moreau. Microorganisms 2023; 11:2534. [PMID: 37894192 PMCID: PMC10609372 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms11102534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2023] [Revised: 08/17/2023] [Accepted: 08/29/2023] [Indexed: 10/29/2023] Open
Abstract
Mycobacterium bovis BCG Moreau is the main Brazilian strain for vaccination against tuberculosis. It is considered an early strain, more like the original BCG, whereas BCG Pasteur, largely used as a reference, belongs to the late strain clade. BCG Moreau, contrary to Pasteur, is naturally deficient in homologous recombination (HR). In this work, using a UV exposure test, we aimed to detect differences in the survival of various BCG strains after DNA damage. Transcription of core and regulatory HR genes was further analyzed using RT-qPCR, aiming to identify the molecular agent responsible for this phenotype. We show that early strains share the Moreau low survival rate after UV exposure, whereas late strains mimic the Pasteur phenotype, indicating that this increase in HR efficiency is linked to the evolutionary clade history. Additionally, RT-qPCR shows that BCG Moreau has an overall lower level of these transcripts than Pasteur, indicating a correlation between this gene expression profile and HR efficiency. Further assays should be performed to fully identify the molecular mechanism that may explain this differential phenotype between early and late BCG strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marcos Gustavo Araujo Schwarz
- Laboratório de Biologia Molecular Aplicada à Micobactérias, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, RJ, Brazil; (P.R.C.); (L.M.-L.)
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9
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Koleske BN, Jacobs WR, Bishai WR. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis genome at 25 years: lessons and lingering questions. J Clin Invest 2023; 133:e173156. [PMID: 37781921 PMCID: PMC10541200 DOI: 10.1172/jci173156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/03/2023] Open
Abstract
First achieved in 1998 by Cole et al., the complete genome sequence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis continues to provide an invaluable resource to understand tuberculosis (TB), the leading cause of global infectious disease mortality. At the 25-year anniversary of this accomplishment, we describe how insights gleaned from the M. tuberculosis genome have led to vital tools for TB research, epidemiology, and clinical practice. The increasing accessibility of whole-genome sequencing across research and clinical settings has improved our ability to predict antibacterial susceptibility, to track epidemics at the level of individual outbreaks and wider historical trends, to query the efficacy of the bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, and to uncover targets for novel antitubercular therapeutics. Likewise, we discuss several recent efforts to extract further discoveries from this powerful resource.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin N. Koleske
- Center for Tuberculosis Research, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
| | - William R. Jacobs
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA
| | - William R. Bishai
- Center for Tuberculosis Research, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
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10
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Elton L, Kasaragod S, Donoghue H, Safar HA, Amankwah P, Zumla A, Witney AA, McHugh TD. Mapping the phylogeny and lineage history of geographically distinct BCG vaccine strains. Microb Genom 2023; 9:mgen001077. [PMID: 37526642 PMCID: PMC10483423 DOI: 10.1099/mgen.0.001077] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2022] [Accepted: 07/05/2023] [Indexed: 08/02/2023] Open
Abstract
The bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine has been in use for prevention of tuberculosis for over a century. It remains the only widely available tuberculosis vaccine and its protective efficacy has varied across geographical regions. Since it was developed, the BCG vaccine strain has been shared across different laboratories around the world, where use of differing culture methods has resulted in genetically distinct strains over time. Whilst differing BCG vaccine efficacy around the world is well documented, and the reasons for this may be multifactorial, it has been hypothesized that genetic differences in BCG vaccine strains contribute to this variation. Isolates from an historic archive of lyophilized BCG strains were regrown, DNA was extracted and then whole-genome sequenced using Oxford Nanopore Technologies. The resulting whole-genome data were plotted on a phylogenetic tree and analysed to identify the presence or absence of regions of difference (RDs) and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) relating to virulence, growth and cell wall structure. Of 50 strains available, 36 were revived in culture and 39 were sequenced. Morphology differed between the strains distributed before and after 1934. There was phylogenetic association amongst certain geographically classified strains, most notably BCG-Russia, BCG-Japan and BCG-Danish. RD2, RD171 and RD713 deletions were associated with late strains (seeded after 1927). When mapped to BCG-Pasteur 1172, the SNPs in sigK, plaA, mmaA3 and eccC5 were associated with early strains. Whilst BCG-Russia, BCG-Japan and BCG-Danish showed strong geographical isolate clustering, the late strains, including BCG-Pasteur, showed more variation. A wide range of SNPs were seen within geographically classified strains, and as much intra-strain variation as between-strain variation was seen. The date of distribution from the original Pasteur laboratory (early pre-1927 or late post-1927) gave the strongest association with genetic differences in regions of difference and virulence-related SNPs, which agrees with the previous literature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Linzy Elton
- Centre for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK
| | - Sandeep Kasaragod
- Institute of Infection and Immunity, St George’s, University of London, London, UK
| | - Helen Donoghue
- Centre for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK
| | - Hussain A. Safar
- Genomics, Proteomics and Cellomics Sciences Research Unit (OMICSRU), Research Core Facility, Health Sciences Centre, Kuwait University, Kuwait City, Kuwait
| | - Priscilla Amankwah
- Centre for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK
| | - Alimuddin Zumla
- Centre for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK
- National Institute for Health and Care Research Biomedical Research Centre, University College London, London, UK
| | - Adam A. Witney
- Institute of Infection and Immunity, St George’s, University of London, London, UK
| | - Timothy D. McHugh
- Centre for Clinical Microbiology, Division of Infection and Immunity, University College London, London, UK
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11
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Asadian M, Hassanzadeh SM, Safarchi A, Douraghi M. The effect of in vitro consecutive passages and culture medium on the genetic variations in BCG Pasteur 1173P2 vaccine. PLoS One 2023; 18:e0280294. [PMID: 36689397 PMCID: PMC9870133 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0280294] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2022] [Accepted: 12/24/2022] [Indexed: 01/24/2023] Open
Abstract
Since the introduction of the Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine, the genomes of vaccine strains have undergone variations due to repeated passages in different laboratories and vaccine production facilities. Genetic variations have been considered as one of the effective factors in the BCG variable protective efficacy. Consecutive subcultures have been shown to play an essential role in causing genetic variations in several microorganisms, including Mycobacterium bovis BCG. Therefore, the world health organization (WHO) recommendation to limit the passages of master seed lot in the BCG vaccine production should be considered. Besides, the role of other external variables such as quality of the raw ingredients of the culture media, the type of the culture medium and the cultivation methods in the vaccine production has been poorly studied. Here, the effect of passages and culture medium on genetic variations in a BCG seed lot was investigated during a year. The findings of this study revealed a total of 19 variants compared to seed lot while the passages were more than the number recommended by WHO. The first culture of seed lot in the Sauton broth and Middlebrook 7H9 media, and the last subculture in Sauton broth had the least and the most variants, respectively. The observation of the higher number of variants in the last cultures on Sauton broth and Middlebrook 7H9 in comparison to the first and the middle cultures may indicate the effect of passages on the genetic variations in BCG. Additionally, more variants in BCG grown in the Sauton broth do not necessarily represent the greater ability of this medium to cause genetic mutations. For a better conclusion, it is required to examine the medium components as independent variables.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mahla Asadian
- Division of Microbiology, Department of Pathobiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
| | | | - Azadeh Safarchi
- School of Biotechnology and Biomolecular Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia
| | - Masoumeh Douraghi
- Division of Microbiology, Department of Pathobiology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
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12
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Asadian M, Hassanzadeh SM, Safarchi A, Douraghi M. Genomic characteristics of two most widely used BCG vaccine strains: Danish 1331 and Pasteur 1173P2. BMC Genomics 2022; 23:609. [PMID: 35987561 PMCID: PMC9392950 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-022-08826-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/08/2022] [Accepted: 08/05/2022] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) refers to a group of vaccine strains with unique genetic characteristics. BCG is the only available vaccine for preventing tuberculosis (TB). Genetic and biochemical variations among the BCG vaccine strains have been considered as one of the significant parameters affecting the variable protective efficacy of the vaccine against pulmonary tuberculosis. To track genetic variations, here two vaccine strains (Danish 1331 and Pasteur 1173P2) popularly used according to the BCG World Atlas were subjected to a comparative analysis against the Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv, Mycobacterium bovis AF2122/97, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis variant bovis BCG str. Pasteur 1173P2 reference genomes. Besides, the presence or absence of the experimentally verified human T cell epitopes was examined. Results Only two variants were identified in BCG Danish 1331 that have not been reported previously in any BCG strains with the complete submitted genome yet. Furthermore, we identified a DU1-like 14,577 bp region in BCG Danish 1331; The duplication which was previously seemed to be exclusive to the BCG Pasteur. We also found that 35% of the T cell epitopes are absent from both strains, and epitope sequences are more conserved than the rest of the genome. Conclusions We provided a comprehensive catalog of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and short insertions and deletions (indels) in BCG Danish 1331 and BCG Pasteur 1173P2. These findings may help determine the effect of genetic variations on the variable protective efficacy of BCG vaccine strains. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12864-022-08826-9.
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13
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Mycobacterium bovis PknG R242P Mutation Results in Structural Changes with Enhanced Virulence in the Mouse Model of Infection. Microorganisms 2022; 10:microorganisms10040673. [PMID: 35456728 PMCID: PMC9030157 DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10040673] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/22/2022] [Revised: 03/14/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Mycobacterium bovis is the causative agent of tuberculosis in domestic and wild animal species and sometimes in humans, presenting variable degrees of pathogenicity. It is known that PknG is involved in the first steps of Mycobacterium tuberculosis macrophage infection and immune evasion. We questioned whether M. bovispknG genes were conserved among mycobacteria and if natural genetic modifications would affect its virulence. We discovered a single mutation at a catalytic domain (R242P) of one M. bovis isolate and established the relation between the presence of R242P mutation and enhanced M. bovis virulence. Here, we demonstrated that R242P mutation alters the PknG protein conformation to a more open ATP binding site cleft. It was observed that M. bovis with PknG mutation resulted in increased growth under stress conditions. In addition, infected macrophages by M. bovis (R242P) presented a higher bacterial load compared with M. bovis without the pknG mutation. Furthermore, using the mouse model of infection, animals infected with M. bovis (R242P) had a massive innate immune response migration to the lung that culminated with pneumonia, necrosis, and higher mortality. The PknG protein single point mutation in its catalytic domain did not reduce the bacterial fitness but rather increased its virulence.
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14
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Martínez-Pérez A, Estévez O, González-Fernández Á. Contribution and Future of High-Throughput Transcriptomics in Battling Tuberculosis. Front Microbiol 2022; 13:835620. [PMID: 35283833 PMCID: PMC8908424 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2022.835620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/14/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
While Tuberculosis (TB) infection remains a serious challenge worldwide, big data and “omic” approaches have greatly contributed to the understanding of the disease. Transcriptomics have been used to tackle a wide variety of queries including diagnosis, treatment evolution, latency and reactivation, novel target discovery, vaccine response or biomarkers of protection. Although a powerful tool, the elevated cost and difficulties in data interpretation may hinder transcriptomics complete potential. Technology evolution and collaborative efforts among multidisciplinary groups might be key in its exploitation. Here, we discuss the main fields explored in TB using transcriptomics, and identify the challenges that need to be addressed for a real implementation in TB diagnosis, prevention and therapy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Amparo Martínez-Pérez
- Biomedical Research Center (CINBIO), Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.,Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-GS), Vigo, Spain
| | - Olivia Estévez
- Biomedical Research Center (CINBIO), Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.,Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-GS), Vigo, Spain
| | - África González-Fernández
- Biomedical Research Center (CINBIO), Universidade de Vigo, Vigo, Spain.,Hospital Álvaro Cunqueiro, Galicia Sur Health Research Institute (IIS-GS), Vigo, Spain
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15
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Pittet LF, Fritschi N, Tebruegge M, Dutta B, Donath S, Messina NL, Casalaz D, Hanekom WA, Britton WJ, Robins-Browne R, Curtis N, Ritz N. Bacille Calmette-Guérin Skin Reaction Predicts Enhanced Mycobacteria-Specific T Cell Responses in Infants. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2022; 205:830-841. [DOI: 10.1164/rccm.202108-1892oc] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Laure F Pittet
- The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, 6453, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, 34361, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- The University of Melbourne, 2281, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | | | - Marc Tebruegge
- The University of Melbourne, 2281, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- University College London, 4919, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
- Evelina London Children's Hospital, 443490, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
| | - Binita Dutta
- Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, 34361, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Susan Donath
- Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, 34361, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- The University of Melbourne, 2281, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Nicole L Messina
- Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, 34361, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- The University of Melbourne, 2281, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Dan Casalaz
- Mercy Hospital for Women, 37244, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
| | | | - Warwick J. Britton
- Centenary Institute, 6022, TB Researtch Program, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Roy Robins-Browne
- Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, 34361, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, 534133, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Nigel Curtis
- The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, 6453, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- Murdoch Childrens Research Institute, 34361, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
- The University of Melbourne, 2281, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Nicole Ritz
- The University of Melbourne, 2281, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
- University of Basel, 27209, Basel, Switzerland
- University Children’s Hospital Basel, 30280, Basel, Switzerland
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16
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Lancione S, Alvarez JV, Alsdurf H, Pai M, Zwerling AA. Tracking changes in national BCG vaccination policies and practices using the BCG World Atlas. BMJ Glob Health 2022; 7:e007462. [PMID: 35039309 PMCID: PMC8764994 DOI: 10.1136/bmjgh-2021-007462] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/05/2022] Open
Abstract
The BCG vaccine is a widely given vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), yet studies on effectiveness have shown considerable heterogeneity; as a result, BCG vaccine policies vary greatly across the globe and change across geography, and with time and disease burden. The recently updated third BCG World Atlas (www.bcgatlas.org) is a publicly available online database with information on BCG practices across 194 countries. This helpful resource has been used for over 10 years to support clinicians, TB researchers and TB vaccine development worldwide. Here, we summarise main findings from the third BCG Atlas' most recent update which included additional data collected around BCG strain type, vaccine stockouts and associated changes. Longitudinal analysis enables evaluation of changes in TB incidence over time, a method becoming more common in legislation interventions. A large number of countries in the BCG Atlas (156/194 countries) maintain universal neonatal BCG vaccination, of which 51 are considered low TB burden countries. We demonstrate the majority of countries who changed their national policy moved to targeted vaccination for high-risk groups, were in Europe and also had significant decreases in TB incidence both before and after policy change. Globally, the most common BCG strain continues to be the Danish strain, despite its worldwide manufacturing interruption in 2015. Substantial variation and disproportionality exists in which regions were most affected by stockouts between 2009 and 2019. Tracking and understanding the reasoning behind changes to national BCG practices and their impact on TB burden is critical for decision makers as they contemplate how to include BCG vaccination in future immunisation guidelines in low and high TB burden countries.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samantha Lancione
- School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | | | - Hannah Alsdurf
- School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
| | - Madhukar Pai
- McGill International Tuberculosis Centre, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada
- Epidemiology & Biostatistics, McGill University, Montreal, Québec, Canada
| | - Alice Anne Zwerling
- School of Epidemiology and Public Health, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
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17
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Guallar-Garrido S, Almiñana-Rapún F, Campo-Pérez V, Torrents E, Luquin M, Julián E. BCG Substrains Change Their Outermost Surface as a Function of Growth Media. Vaccines (Basel) 2021; 10:40. [PMID: 35062701 PMCID: PMC8779077 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines10010040] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/28/2021] [Revised: 12/21/2021] [Accepted: 12/25/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) efficacy as an immunotherapy tool can be influenced by the genetic background or immune status of the treated population and by the BCG substrain used. BCG comprises several substrains with genetic differences that elicit diverse phenotypic characteristics. Moreover, modifications of phenotypic characteristics can be influenced by culture conditions. However, several culture media formulations are used worldwide to produce BCG. To elucidate the influence of growth conditions on BCG characteristics, five different substrains were grown on two culture media, and the lipidic profile and physico-chemical properties were evaluated. Our results show that each BCG substrain displays a variety of lipidic profiles on the outermost surface depending on the growth conditions. These modifications lead to a breadth of hydrophobicity patterns and a different ability to reduce neutral red dye within the same BCG substrain, suggesting the influence of BCG growth conditions on the interaction between BCG cells and host cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sandra Guallar-Garrido
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (S.G.-G.); (F.A.-R.); (V.C.-P.); (M.L.)
| | - Farners Almiñana-Rapún
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (S.G.-G.); (F.A.-R.); (V.C.-P.); (M.L.)
| | - Víctor Campo-Pérez
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (S.G.-G.); (F.A.-R.); (V.C.-P.); (M.L.)
- Bacterial Infections and Antimicrobial Therapies Group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Baldiri Reixac 15-21, 08028 Barcelona, Spain;
| | - Eduard Torrents
- Bacterial Infections and Antimicrobial Therapies Group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), Baldiri Reixac 15-21, 08028 Barcelona, Spain;
- Microbiology Section, Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Biology Faculty, Universitat de Barcelona, 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Marina Luquin
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (S.G.-G.); (F.A.-R.); (V.C.-P.); (M.L.)
| | - Esther Julián
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (S.G.-G.); (F.A.-R.); (V.C.-P.); (M.L.)
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18
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Development of a Multiplex Real-Time PCR Assay for Mycobacterium bovis BCG and Validation in a Clinical Laboratory. Microbiol Spectr 2021; 9:e0109821. [PMID: 34494864 PMCID: PMC8557883 DOI: 10.1128/spectrum.01098-21] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a live attenuated vaccine which can result in local or disseminated infection, most commonly in immunocompromised individuals. Differentiation of BCG from other members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) is required to diagnose BCG disease, which requires specific management. Current methods for BCG diagnosis are based on mycobacterial culture and conventional PCR; the former is time-consuming and the latter often unavailable. Further, there are reports that certain BCG strains may be associated with a higher rate of adverse events. This study describes the development of a two-step multiplex real-time PCR assay which uses single nucleotide polymorphisms to detect BCG and identify early or late BCG strains. The assay has a limit of detection of 1 pg BCG boiled lysate DNA and was shown to detect BCG in both pure cultures and experimentally infected tissue. Its performance was assessed on 19 suspected BCG clinical isolates at Christian Medical College in Vellore, India, taken from January 2018 to August 2020. Of these 19 isolates, 10 were identified as BCG (6 early and 4 late strains), and 9 were identified as other MTBC members. Taken together, the results demonstrate the ability of this assay to identify and characterize BCG disease from cultures and infected tissue. The capacity to identify BCG may improve patient management, and the ability to discriminate between BCG strains may enable BCG vaccine pharmacovigilance. IMPORTANCE Vaccination against tuberculosis with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) can lead to adverse events, including a rare but life-threatening complication of disseminated BCG. This complication often occurs in young children with immunodeficiencies and is associated with an ∼60% mortality rate. A rapid method of reliably identifying BCG infection is important because BCG requires treatment unique to tuberculosis. BCG is resistant to the first-line antituberculosis drug pyrazinamide. Additionally, diagnosis of BCG disease would lead to further investigation of a possible underlying immune condition. We have developed a diagnostic assay to identify BCG which improves upon previously published methods and can reliably identify BCG from bacterial culture or directly from infected tissue. This assay can also differentiate between strains of BCG, which have been suggested to be associated with different rates of adverse events. This assay was validated on 19 clinical isolates collected at Christian Medical College in Vellore, India.
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19
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Sarno A, Bitencourt J, Queiroz A, Arruda S. In silico comparisons of lipid-related genes between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and BCG vaccine strains. Genet Mol Biol 2021; 44:e20210024. [PMID: 34699585 PMCID: PMC8547388 DOI: 10.1590/1678-4685-gmb-2021-0024] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/27/2021] [Accepted: 07/22/2021] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Despite highly variable efficacy, BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) is the only vaccine available to prevent the tuberculosis (TB). Genomic heterogeneity between attenuated BCG strains and virulent Mycobacterium tuberculosis might help to explain this vaccine’s impaired capacity to induce long-term protection. Here, we investigate the lipid-related genes absent in attenuated BCG strains in order to correlate changes in both lipid metabolism and cell-wall lipid content to vaccine impairment. Whole genome sequences of M. tuberculosis H37Rv and the six most used BCG strains worldwide were aligned and the absent regions functionally categorized. Genomes of the BCG strains showed a total of 14 non-homologous lipid-related genes, including those belonging to mce3 operon, as well as the gene echaA1, which encodes an enoyl-CoA hydratase, and the genes encoding phospholipases PlcA, PlcB and PlcC. Taken together, the depletion of these M. tuberculosis H37Rv genomic regions were associated with marked alterations in lipid-related genes of BCG strains. Such alterations may indicate a dormant-like state and can be determining factors to the vaccine’s inability to induce long-term protection. These lipids can be further evaluated as an adjuvant to boost the current BCG-based vaccine.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alice Sarno
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Laboratório Avançado em Saúde Pública, Salvador, BA, Brazil.,Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil
| | - Julia Bitencourt
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Laboratório Avançado em Saúde Pública, Salvador, BA, Brazil
| | - Adriano Queiroz
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Laboratório Avançado em Saúde Pública, Salvador, BA, Brazil
| | - Sergio Arruda
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Laboratório Avançado em Saúde Pública, Salvador, BA, Brazil.,Universidade do Estado da Bahia, Salvador, BA, Brazil
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20
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Shpilsky GF, Takahashi H, Aristarkhova A, Weil M, Ng N, Nelson KJ, Lee A, Zheng H, Kühtreiber WM, Faustman DL. Bacillus Calmette-Guerin 's beneficial impact on glucose metabolism: evidence for broad based applications. iScience 2021; 24:103150. [PMID: 34646988 PMCID: PMC8501688 DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.103150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2021] [Revised: 06/03/2021] [Accepted: 09/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccinations improve glycemic control in juvenile-onset Type I diabetes (T1D), an effect driven by restored sugar transport through aerobic glycolysis. In a pilot clinical trial, T1D, but not latent autoimmune diabetes of adults (LADA), exhibited lower blood sugars after multidose BCG. Using a glucose transport assay, monocytes from T1D subjects showed a large stimulation index with BCG exposures; LADA subjects showed minimal BCG-induced sugar responsiveness. Monocytes from T1D, type 2 diabetes (T2D), and non-diabetic controls (NDC) were all responsive in vitro to BCG by augmented sugar utilization. Adults with prior neonatal BCG vaccination show accelerated glucose transport decades later. Finally, in vivo experiments with the NOD mouse (a T1D model) and obese db/db mice (a T2D model) confirm BCG's blood-sugar-lowering and accelerated glucose metabolism with sufficient dosing. Our results suggest that BCG's benefits for glucose metabolism may be broadly applicable to T1D and T2D, but less to LADA. A pilot trial of BCG vaccinations to T1D showed reduced blood sugars but not in LADA Monocytes from T1D and to some degree T2D display stimulated glucose transport BCG vaccinations at birth show accelerated glucose transport decades later In vivo mouse models of both T1D and T2D demonstrate BCG-induced blood sugar lowering
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriella F Shpilsky
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Immunobiology Laboratories, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Hiroyuki Takahashi
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Immunobiology Laboratories, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Anna Aristarkhova
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Immunobiology Laboratories, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Michele Weil
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Diabetes Unit, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Nathan Ng
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Immunobiology Laboratories, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Kacie J Nelson
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Immunobiology Laboratories, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Amanda Lee
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Immunobiology Laboratories, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Hui Zheng
- Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Statistics Department, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Willem M Kühtreiber
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Immunobiology Laboratories, Boston, MA 02129, USA.,Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Immunobiology Laboratories, Boston, MA 02129, USA
| | - Denise L Faustman
- Massachusetts General Hospital, Immunobiology Laboratories, Boston, MA 02129, USA.,Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Immunobiology Laboratories, Boston, MA 02129, USA
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21
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Lange C, Aaby P, Behr MA, Donald PR, Kaufmann SHE, Netea MG, Mandalakas AM. 100 years of Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin. THE LANCET. INFECTIOUS DISEASES 2021; 22:e2-e12. [PMID: 34506734 DOI: 10.1016/s1473-3099(21)00403-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 25.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/01/2021] [Revised: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), an experimental vaccine designed to protect cattle from bovine tuberculosis, was administered for the first time to a newborn baby in Paris in 1921. Over the past century, BCG has saved tens of millions of lives and has been given to more humans than any other vaccine. It remains the sole tuberculosis vaccine licensed for use in humans. BCG provides long-lasting strong protection against miliary and meningeal tuberculosis in children, but it is less effective for the prevention of pulmonary tuberculosis, especially in adults. Evidence mainly from the past two decades suggests that BCG has non-specific benefits against non-tuberculous infections in newborn babies and in older adults, and offers immunotherapeutic benefit in certain malignancies such as non-muscle invasive bladder cancer. However, as a live attenuated vaccine, BCG can cause localised or disseminated infections in immunocompromised hosts, which can also occur following intravesical installation of BCG for the treatment of bladder cancer. The legacy of BCG includes fundamental discoveries about tuberculosis-specific and non-specific immunity and the demonstration that tuberculosis is a vaccine-preventable disease, providing a foundation for new vaccines to hasten tuberculosis elimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christoph Lange
- Division of Clinical Infectious Diseases, Medical Clinic, Research Center Borstel, Borstel, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) Tuberculosis Unit, Borstel, Germany; Respiratory Medicine and International Health, University of Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany; Global TB Program, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA.
| | - Peter Aaby
- Bandim Health Project, Indepth Network, Bissau, Guinea-Bissau; Bandim Health Project, Southern Danish University, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - Marcel A Behr
- McGill International TB Centre and Department of Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada
| | - Peter R Donald
- Desmond Tutu TB Centre, Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Stellenbosch University, Cape Town, South Africa
| | - Stefan H E Kaufmann
- Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, Berlin, Germany; Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry, Göttingen, Germany; Hagler Institute for Advanced Study, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
| | - Mihai G Netea
- Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, Nijmegen, Netherlands; Department of Immunology and Metabolism, Life and Medical Sciences Institute, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
| | - Anna M Mandalakas
- Global TB Program, Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, TX, USA
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22
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Abstract
Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) species are classic examples of genetically monomorphic microorganisms due to their low genetic variability. Whole-genome sequencing made it possible to describe both the main species within the complex and M. tuberculosis lineages and sublineages. This differentiation is based on single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and large sequence polymorphisms in the so-called regions of difference (RDs). Although a number of studies have been performed to elucidate RD localizations, their distribution among MTBC species, and their role in the bacterial life cycle, there are some inconsistencies and ambiguities in the localization of RDs in different members of the complex. To address this issue, we conducted a thorough search for all possible deletions in the WGS data collection comprising 721 samples representing the full MTBC diversity. Discovered deletions were compared with a list of all previously described RDs. As with the SNP-based analysis, we confirmed the specificities of 79 regions at the species, lineage, or sublineage level, 17 of which are described for the first time. We also present RDscan (https://github.com/dbespiatykh/RDscan), an open-source workflow, which detects deletions from short-read sequencing data and correlates the results with high-specificity RDs, curated in this study. Testing of the workflow on a collection comprising ∼7,000 samples showed a high specificity of the found RDs. This study provides novel details that can contribute to a better understanding of the species differentiation within the MTBC and can help to determine how individual clusters evolve within various MTBC species. IMPORTANCE Reductive genome evolution is one of the most important and intriguing adaptation strategies of different living organisms to their environment. Mycobacterium offers several notorious examples of either naturally reduced (Mycobacterium leprae) or laboratory-reduced (Mycobacterium bovis BCG) genomes. Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex has its phylogeny unambiguously framed by large sequence polymorphisms that present unidirectional unique event changes. In the present study, we curated all known regions of difference and analyzed both Mycobacterium tuberculosis and animal-adapted MTBC species. For 79 loci, we have shown a relationship with phylogenetic units, which can serve as a marker for diagnosing or studying biological effects. Moreover, intersections were found for some loci, which may indicate the nonrandomness of these processes and the involvement of these regions in the adaptation of bacteria to external conditions.
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23
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Guerreiro F, Swedrowska M, Patel R, Flórez-Fernández N, Torres MD, Rosa da Costa AM, Forbes B, Grenha A. Engineering of konjac glucomannan into respirable microparticles for delivery of antitubercular drugs. Int J Pharm 2021; 604:120731. [PMID: 34029661 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpharm.2021.120731] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/19/2021] [Revised: 05/05/2021] [Accepted: 05/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Few medically-approved excipients are available for formulation strategies to endow microcarriers with improved performance in lung drug targeting. Konjac glucomannan (KGM) is a novel, biocompatible material, comprising mannose units potentially inducing macrophage uptake for the treatment of macrophage-mediated diseases. This work investigated spray-dried KGM microparticles as inhalable carriers of model antitubercular drugs, isoniazid (INH) and rifabutin (RFB). The polymer was characterised and different polymer/drug ratios tested in the production of microparticles for which respirability was assessed in vitro. The swelling of KGM microparticles and release of drugs in simulated lung fluid were characterised and the biodegradability in presence of β-mannosidase, a lung hydrolase, determined. KGM microparticles were drug loaded with 66-91% association efficiency and had aerodynamic diameter around 3 µm, which enables deep lung penetration. The microparticles swelled upon liquid contact by 40-50% but underwent size reduction (>62% in 90 min) in presence of β-mannosidase, indicating biodegradability. Finally, drug release was tested showing slower release of RFB compared with INH but complete release of both within 24 h. This work identifies KGM as a biodegradable polymer of natural origin that can be engineered to encapsulate and release drugs in respirable microparticles with physical and chemical macrophage-targeting properties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Filipa Guerreiro
- Centre for Marine Sciences (CCMar), Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro 8005-139, Portugal; Centre for Biomedical Research (CBMR), Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro 8005-139, Portugal
| | - Magda Swedrowska
- King's College London, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, London SE1 9NH, UK.
| | - Roshnee Patel
- King's College London, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, London SE1 9NH, UK.
| | - Noelia Flórez-Fernández
- Centre for Marine Sciences (CCMar), Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro 8005-139, Portugal; Centre for Biomedical Research (CBMR), Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro 8005-139, Portugal; Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Vigo, Faculty of Sciences, As Lagoas, Ourense 32004, Spain.
| | - María Dolores Torres
- Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Vigo, Faculty of Sciences, As Lagoas, Ourense 32004, Spain.
| | - Ana M Rosa da Costa
- Algarve Chemistry Research Centre (CIQA), Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro 8005-139, Portugal.
| | - Ben Forbes
- King's College London, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, London SE1 9NH, UK.
| | - Ana Grenha
- Centre for Marine Sciences (CCMar), Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro 8005-139, Portugal; Centre for Biomedical Research (CBMR), Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, Faro 8005-139, Portugal; Research Institute for Medicines (iMed.ULisboa), Faculty of Pharmacy, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Prof. Gama Pinto, Lisboa 1649-003, Portugal.
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24
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Abstract
Current models of horizontal gene transfer (HGT) in mycobacteria are based on “distributive conjugal transfer” (DCT), an HGT type described in the fast-growing, saprophytic model organism Mycobacterium smegmatis, which creates genome mosaicism in resulting strains and depends on an ESX-1 type VII secretion system. In contrast, only few data on interstrain DNA transfer are available for tuberculosis-causing mycobacteria, for which chromosomal DNA transfer between two Mycobacterium canettii strains was reported, a process which, however, was not observed for Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. Here, we have studied a wide range of human- and animal-adapted members of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) using an optimized filter-based mating assay together with three selected strains of M. canettii that acted as DNA recipients. Unlike in previous approaches, we obtained a high yield of thousands of recombinants containing transferred chromosomal DNA fragments from various MTBC donor strains, as confirmed by whole-genome sequence analysis of 38 randomly selected clones. While the genome organizations of the obtained recombinants showed mosaicisms of donor DNA fragments randomly integrated into a recipient genome backbone, reminiscent of those described as being the result of ESX-1-mediated DCT in M. smegmatis, we observed similar transfer efficiencies when ESX-1-deficient donor and/or recipient mutants were used, arguing that in tubercle bacilli, HGT is an ESX-1-independent process. These findings provide new insights into the genetic events driving the pathoevolution of M. tuberculosis and radically change our perception of HGT in mycobacteria, particularly for those species that show recombinogenic population structures despite the natural absence of ESX-1 secretion systems.
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25
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Klinger D, Hill BL, Barda N, Halperin E, Gofrit ON, Greenblatt CL, Rappoport N, Linial M, Bercovier H. Bladder Cancer Immunotherapy by BCG Is Associated with a Significantly Reduced Risk of Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease. Vaccines (Basel) 2021; 9:vaccines9050491. [PMID: 34064775 PMCID: PMC8151667 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines9050491] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/17/2021] [Revised: 05/06/2021] [Accepted: 05/07/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) is a live attenuated form of Mycobacterium bovis that was developed 100 years ago as a vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) and has been used ever since to vaccinate children globally. It has also been used as the first-line treatment in patients with nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), through repeated intravesical applications. Numerous studies have shown that BCG induces off-target immune effects in various pathologies. Accumulating data argue for the critical role of the immune system in the course of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). In this study, we tested whether repeated exposure to BCG during the treatment of NMIBC is associated with the risk of developing AD and PD. We presented a multi-center retrospective cohort study with patient data collected between 2000 and 2019 that included 12,185 bladder cancer (BC) patients, of which 2301 BCG-treated patients met all inclusion criteria, with a follow-up of 3.5 to 7 years. We considered the diagnosis date of AD and nonvascular dementia cases for BC patients. The BC patients were partitioned into those who underwent a transurethral resection of the bladder tumor followed by BCG therapy, and a disjoint group that had not received such treatment. By applying Cox proportional hazards (PH) regression and competing for risk analyses, we found that BCG treatment was associated with a significantly reduced risk of developing AD, especially in the population aged 75 years or older. The older population (≥75 years, 1578 BCG treated, and 5147 controls) showed a hazard ratio (HR) of 0.726 (95% CI: 0.529–0.996; p-value = 0.0473). While in a hospital-based cohort, BCG treatment resulted in an HR of 0.416 (95% CI: 0.203–0.853; p-value = 0.017), indicating a 58% lower risk of developing AD. The risk of developing PD showed the same trend with a 28% reduction in BCG-treated patients, while no BCG beneficial effect was observed for other age-related events such as Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and stroke. We attributed BCG’s beneficial effect on neurodegenerative diseases to a possible activation of long-term nonspecific immune effects. We proposed a prospective study in elderly people for testing intradermic BCG inoculation as a potential protective agent against AD and PD.
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Affiliation(s)
- Danielle Klinger
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel;
| | - Brian L. Hill
- Department of Computer Science, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1596, USA; (B.L.H.); (E.H.)
| | - Noam Barda
- Clalit Research Institute, Innovation Division, Clalit Health Services, Ramat-Gan 6578898, Israel;
- Department of Biomedical Informatics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
| | - Eran Halperin
- Department of Computer Science, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1596, USA; (B.L.H.); (E.H.)
| | - Ofer N. Gofrit
- Department of Urology, Hadassah University Hospital, Jerusalem 91904, Israel;
| | - Charles L. Greenblatt
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel; (C.L.G.); (H.B.)
| | - Nadav Rappoport
- Department of Software and Information Systems Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva 84105, Israel;
| | - Michal Linial
- Department of Biological Chemistry, Institute of Life Sciences, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel;
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +972-54-882-0035
| | - Hervé Bercovier
- Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem 91904, Israel; (C.L.G.); (H.B.)
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26
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Bitencourt J, Sarno A, Oliveira C, Souza RAD, Lima CC, Takenami I, Pereira SM, Arruda S. Comparing cytokine production and clinical response following vaccination with BCG Moreau and BCG Russia strains in a Brazilian infant population. Vaccine 2021; 39:3189-3196. [PMID: 33965255 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.04.028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2020] [Revised: 03/23/2021] [Accepted: 04/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION BCG is the only licensed vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) and, in Brazil, comprises part of the recommended vaccine schedule within the first month of life. Due to a local manufacturing shortage of BCG Moreau, BCG Russia was introduced in 2017 by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. OBJECTIVE To evaluate differences in immune responses induced by BCG Moreau and BCG Russia in infants, in addition to scar formation. METHODS The present case series involved 15 healthy infants who were vaccinated within the first seven days of life with one of two strains of BCG, then followed for 12 weeks or longer. Cytokine levels were measured before and after vaccination in whole blood culture supernatants previously stimulated in vitro with either BCG strain, heat-killed M. tuberculosis H37Rv or in the absence of stimulation. BCG scarring was also documented. RESULTS Infants vaccinated with BCG Moreau exhibited increased background IL-2, IL-10 and IL-4 production, yet no differences were found in those vaccinated with BCG Russia. Although both strains induced higher levels of IL-2 and IFN-γ, elevated IL-6, TNF and IL-10 production was also seen in response to BCG Russia. In contrast, no specific responses were observed against heat-killed M. tuberculosis H37Rv, with the exception of increased IL-2 following BCG Moreau vaccination. Although documented in both groups, scarring was milder and less frequent following BCG Russia vaccination. CONCLUSIONS Similar Th1 profiles were found following immunization with either type of BCG vaccine evaluated herein, with more pronounced cytokine production detected in response to the Russia strain. Overall, vaccination was well-tolerated and scarring evolved as expected for both BCG strains.
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Affiliation(s)
- Julia Bitencourt
- Laboratório Avançado de Saúde Pública, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IGM/Fiocruz), Salvador, Bahia 40296 710, Brazil.
| | - Alice Sarno
- Laboratório Avançado de Saúde Pública, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IGM/Fiocruz), Salvador, Bahia 40296 710, Brazil.
| | - Carlos Oliveira
- Laboratório Avançado de Saúde Pública, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IGM/Fiocruz), Salvador, Bahia 40296 710, Brazil.
| | - Ramon Andrade de Souza
- Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Bahia 40110-040, Brazil.
| | - Carla Cristina Lima
- Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Bahia 40110-040, Brazil.
| | - Iukary Takenami
- Colegiado de Medicina, Universidade Federal do Vale do São Francisco (UNIVASF), Paulo Afonso, BA 48607 190, Brazil.
| | - Susan M Pereira
- Instituto de Saúde Coletiva, Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA), Salvador, Bahia 40110-040, Brazil.
| | - Sérgio Arruda
- Laboratório Avançado de Saúde Pública, Instituto Gonçalo Moniz, Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (IGM/Fiocruz), Salvador, Bahia 40296 710, Brazil; Departamento de Ciências da Vida, Universidade Estadual da Bahia (UNEB), Salvador, BA 41150 000, Brazil.
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27
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Schwarz MGA, Luzes BGC, Correa PR, da Silva-Gonçalves AJ, Machado LDA, Guimarães ACR, Mendonça-Lima L. M. bovis BCG Moreau N-Terminal Loss Leads to a Less Stable Dodecin With Lower Flavin Binding Capacity. Front Cell Infect Microbiol 2021; 11:658888. [PMID: 33869088 PMCID: PMC8044443 DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2021.658888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/26/2021] [Accepted: 03/12/2021] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Tuberculosis still remains a concerning health problem worldwide. Its etiologic agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, continues to be the focus of research to unravel new prophylactic and therapeutic strategies against this disease. The only vaccine in use against tuberculosis is based on the in vitro attenuated strain, M. bovis BCG. Dodecin is a dodecameric complex important for flavin homeostasis in Archea and Eubacteria, and the M. tuberculosis protein is described as thermo- and halostable. M. bovis BCG Moreau, the Brazilian vaccine strain, has a single nucleotide polymorphism in the dodecin start codon, leading to a predicted loss of seven amino acids at the protein N-terminal end. In this work we aimed to characterize the effect of this mutation in the BCG Moreau protein features. Our recombinant protein assays show that the predicted BCG homolog is less thermostable than M.tb’s but maintains its dodecamerization ability, although with a lower riboflavin-binding capacity. These data are corroborated by structural analysis after comparative modeling, showing that the predicted BCG dodecin complex has a lower interaction energy among its monomers and also a distinct electrostatic surface near the flavin binding pocket. However, western blotting assays with the native proteins were unable to detect significant differences between the BCG Moreau and M.tb orthologs, indicating that other factors may be modulating protein structure/function in the bacterial context.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Paloma Rezende Correa
- Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | | | - Lucas de Almeida Machado
- Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | | | - Leila Mendonça-Lima
- Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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28
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Panaiotov S, Hodzhev Y, Tolchkov V, Tsafarova B, Mihailov A, Stefanova T. Complete Genome Sequence, Genome Stability and Phylogeny of the Vaccine Strain Mycobacterium bovis BCG SL222 Sofia. Vaccines (Basel) 2021; 9:vaccines9030237. [PMID: 33803448 PMCID: PMC8000558 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines9030237] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2021] [Revised: 03/07/2021] [Accepted: 03/08/2021] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) is the only live attenuated vaccine available against tuberculosis. The first BCG vaccination was done exactly 100 years ago, in 1921. The BCG vaccine strains used worldwide represent a family of daughter sub-strains with distinct genotypic characteristics. BCG SL222 Sofia is a seed lot sub-strain descending from the Russian BCG-I (seed lot 374a) strain and has been used for vaccine production in Bulgaria since 1972. Here, we report the assembled circular genome sequence of Mycobacterium bovis BCG SL222 Sofia and phylogeny analysis with the most closely related BCG sub-strains. The full circular genome of BCG SL222 Sofia had a length of 4,370,706 bp with an average GC content of 65.60%. After 49 years of in vitro evolution in a freeze-dried condition, we identified four SNP mutations as compared to the reference BCG-I (Russia-368) sequence. BCG vaccination is of central importance for the TB elimination programs in many countries. Since 1991, almost 40 million vaccine doses of the BCG SL222 Sofia have been distributed annually through the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to approximately 120 countries. The availability of the complete reference genome sequence for M. bovis BCG SL222 Sofia, a WHO reference reagent for the Russian BCG-I sub-strain, will facilitate the identity assurance of the genomic stability, will contribute to more consistent manufacturing, and has an important value in standardization and differentiation of sub-strains used in vaccine production. We propose to rename the sub-strain BCG SL222 Sofia to BCG-Sofia for practical and common use.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stefan Panaiotov
- National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria; (Y.H.); (V.T.); (B.T.)
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +359-887-720061
| | - Yordan Hodzhev
- National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria; (Y.H.); (V.T.); (B.T.)
| | - Vladimir Tolchkov
- National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria; (Y.H.); (V.T.); (B.T.)
| | - Borislava Tsafarova
- National Center of Infectious and Parasitic Diseases, 1504 Sofia, Bulgaria; (Y.H.); (V.T.); (B.T.)
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29
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Wenzel M, Dekker MP, Wang B, Burggraaf MJ, Bitter W, van Weering JRT, Hamoen LW. A flat embedding method for transmission electron microscopy reveals an unknown mechanism of tetracycline. Commun Biol 2021; 4:306. [PMID: 33686188 PMCID: PMC7940657 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-01809-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/05/2019] [Accepted: 02/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Transmission electron microscopy of cell sample sections is a popular technique in microbiology. Currently, ultrathin sectioning is done on resin-embedded cell pellets, which consumes milli- to deciliters of culture and results in sections of randomly orientated cells. This is problematic for rod-shaped bacteria and often precludes large-scale quantification of morphological phenotypes due to the lack of sufficient numbers of longitudinally cut cells. Here we report a flat embedding method that enables observation of thousands of longitudinally cut cells per single section and only requires microliter culture volumes. We successfully applied this technique to Bacillus subtilis, Escherichia coli, Mycobacterium bovis, and Acholeplasma laidlawii. To assess the potential of the technique to quantify morphological phenotypes, we monitored antibiotic-induced changes in B. subtilis cells. Surprisingly, we found that the ribosome inhibitor tetracycline causes membrane deformations. Further investigations showed that tetracycline disturbs membrane organization and localization of the peripheral membrane proteins MinD, MinC, and MreB. These observations are not the result of ribosome inhibition but constitute a secondary antibacterial activity of tetracycline that so far has defied discovery.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michaela Wenzel
- Bacterial Cell Biology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, Amsterdam University Medical Centers - Location VUMC, 1081 HZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- Chemical Biology, Department for Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96, Gothenburg, Sweden.
| | - Marien P Dekker
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR), Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Medical Centers - Location VUMC, 1081 HZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Biwen Wang
- Bacterial Cell Biology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Maroeska J Burggraaf
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, Amsterdam University Medical Centers - Location VUMC, 1081 HZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Wilbert Bitter
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, Amsterdam University Medical Centers - Location VUMC, 1081 HZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Amsterdam Institute for Molecules, Medicines, and Systems, Faculty of Science, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, 1081 HZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Jan R T van Weering
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Center for Neurogenomics and Cognitive Research (CNCR), Neuroscience Campus Amsterdam, Amsterdam University Medical Centers - Location VUMC, 1081 HZ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
| | - Leendert W Hamoen
- Bacterial Cell Biology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
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30
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Gonzalez-Perez M, Sanchez-Tarjuelo R, Shor B, Nistal-Villan E, Ochando J. The BCG Vaccine for COVID-19: First Verdict and Future Directions. Front Immunol 2021; 12:632478. [PMID: 33763077 PMCID: PMC7982405 DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2021.632478] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2020] [Accepted: 02/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
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.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Gonzalez-Perez
- Transplant Immunology Unit, Department of Immunology, National Center of Microbiology, Instituto De Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
| | - Rodrigo Sanchez-Tarjuelo
- Department of Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States
| | - Boris Shor
- Manhattan BioSolutions, New York, NY, United States
| | - Estanislao Nistal-Villan
- Microbiology Section, Departamento de Ciencias Farmacéuticas y de la Salud, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad San Pablo-Centro de Estudios Universitarios (CEU), Madrid, Spain
- Facultad de Medicina, Instituto de Medicina Molecular Aplicada (IMMA), Universidad San Pablo-CEU, Madrid, Spain
| | - Jordi Ochando
- Transplant Immunology Unit, Department of Immunology, National Center of Microbiology, Instituto De Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain
- Department of Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States
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31
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Miseviciene V, Liakaite G, Suciliene E, Ivaskeviciene I. Bacille Calmette-Guérin Vaccine-induced Osteomyelitis in Immunocompetent Children: A 10-year Case Series in Lithuania. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2021; 40:e77-e81. [PMID: 33165278 DOI: 10.1097/inf.0000000000002981] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
The Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG)-induced osteomyelitis is an extremely rare systemic adverse reaction after BCG vaccination in immunocompetent children and the correct diagnosis is frequently missed. We present 4 clinical cases of BCG-induced osteomyelitis reported over a 10-year period in a high-TB incidence country Lithuania. A brief review of clinical, management and treatment features of the disease is given.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valdone Miseviciene
- From the Pediatric Department, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas
| | - Gintare Liakaite
- From the Pediatric Department, Medical Academy, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas
| | - Elena Suciliene
- Clinic of Children's Diseases, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
| | - Inga Ivaskeviciene
- Clinic of Children's Diseases, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania
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Schwarz MGA, Antunes D, Corrêa PR, da Silva-Gonçalves AJ, Malaga W, Caffarena ER, Guilhot C, Mendonça-Lima L. Mycobacterium tuberculosis and M. bovis BCG Moreau Fumarate Reductase Operons Produce Different Polypeptides That May Be Related to Non-canonical Functions. Front Microbiol 2021; 11:624121. [PMID: 33510737 PMCID: PMC7835394 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.624121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2020] [Accepted: 12/17/2020] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Tuberculosis is a world widespread disease, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb). Although considered an obligate aerobe, this organism can resist life-limiting conditions such as microaerophily mainly due to its set of enzymes responsible for energy production and coenzyme restoration under these conditions. One of these enzymes is fumarate reductase, an heterotetrameric complex composed of a catalytic (FrdA), an iron-sulfur cluster (FrdB) and two transmembrane (FrdC and FrdD) subunits involved in anaerobic respiration and important for the maintenance of membrane potential. In this work, aiming to further characterize this enzyme function in mycobacteria, we analyzed the expression of FrdB-containing proteins in M.tb and Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) Moreau, the Brazilian vaccine strain against tuberculosis. We identified three isoforms in both mycobacteria, two of them corresponding to the predicted encoded polypeptides of M.tb (27 kDa) and BCG Moreau (40 kDa) frd sequences, as due to an insertion on the latter’s operon a fused FrdBC protein is expected. The third 52 kDa band can be explained by a transcriptional slippage event, typically occurring when mutation arises in a repetitive region within a coding sequence, thought to reduce its impact allowing the production of both native and variant forms. Comparative modeling of the M.tb and BCG Moreau predicted protein complexes allowed the detection of subtle overall differences, showing a high degree of structure and maybe functional resemblance among them. Axenic growth and macrophage infection assays show that the frd locus is important for proper bacterial development in both scenarios, and that both M.tb’s and BCG Moreau’s alleles can partially revert the hampered phenotype of the knockout strain. Altogether, our results show that the frdABCD operon of Mycobacteria may have evolved to possess other yet non-described functions, such as those necessary during aerobic logarithmic growth and early stage steps of infection.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Deborah Antunes
- Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Paloma Rezende Corrêa
- Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | | | - Wladimir Malaga
- Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
| | - Ernesto Raul Caffarena
- Grupo de Biofísica Computacional e Modelagem Molecular, Programa de Computação Científica, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
| | - Christophe Guilhot
- Institut de Pharmacologie et de Biologie Structurale, Université de Toulouse, CNRS, Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France
| | - Leila Mendonça-Lima
- Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Fiocruz, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
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Pittet LF, Tebruegge M, Dutta B, Donath S, Messina N, Casalaz D, Hanekom WA, Britton WJ, Robins-Browne R, Curtis N, Ritz N. Mycobacterium ulcerans-specific immune response after immunisation with bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine. Vaccine 2020; 39:652-657. [PMID: 33371993 DOI: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.11.045] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/10/2020] [Revised: 09/17/2020] [Accepted: 11/14/2020] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine provides partial protection against Buruli ulcer caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans in epidemiological studies. This study aimed to quantify M. ulcerans-specific immune responses induced by BCG immunisation. METHODS Intracellular cytokine analysis of in-vitro experiments done 10 weeks after BCG immunisation in 130 Australian infants randomised to one of three BCG vaccine strains given either at birth (BCG-Denmark, BCG-Japan, or BCG-Russia) or at two months of age (BCG-Denmark). RESULTS Proportions of polyfunctional CD4+ T-cells were higher in M. ulcerans-stimulated compared to unstimulated control samples. These proportions were not influenced by the vaccine strain or timing of the immunisation. The M. ulcerans-specific immune responses showed similar patterns to those observed in M. tuberculosis-stimulated samples, although they were of lower magnitude. CONCLUSIONS Our data show that BCG immunisation induces M. ulcerans-specific immune responses in infants, likely explaining the cross-protective effect observed in epidemiological studies. (ACTRN12608000227392).
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Affiliation(s)
- Laure F Pittet
- Infectious Diseases Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Infectious Diseases Unit, The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Marc Tebruegge
- Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London, United Kingdom; Department of Paediatric Infectious Diseases and Immunology, Evelina London Children's Hospital, Guy's and St. Thomas' National Health Service Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom
| | - Binita Dutta
- Department of Pharmaceutical and Pharmacological Sciences, KU Leuven, Louvain, Belgium
| | - Susan Donath
- Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Clinical Epidemiology and Biostatistics Unit, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Nicole Messina
- Infectious Diseases Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Dan Casalaz
- Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Mercy Hospital for Women, Heidelberg, Victoria, Australia
| | | | - Warwick J Britton
- Centenary Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Roy Robins-Browne
- Infectious Diseases Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
| | - Nigel Curtis
- Infectious Diseases Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Infectious Diseases Unit, The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Nicole Ritz
- Infectious Diseases Group, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; University of Basel Children's Hospital Basel, Infectious Diseases Unit and Migrant Health Service, Basel, Switzerland; Mycobacterial Research Laboratory, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
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Korol CB, Shallom SJ, Arora K, Boshoff HI, Freeman AF, King A, Agrawal S, Daugherty SC, Jancel T, Kabat J, Ganesan S, Torrero MN, Sampaio EP, Barry C, Holland SM, Tettelin H, Rosenzweig SD, Zelazny AM. Tissue specific diversification, virulence and immune response to Mycobacterium bovis BCG in a patient with an IFN-γ R1 deficiency. Virulence 2020; 11:1656-1673. [PMID: 33356838 PMCID: PMC7781554 DOI: 10.1080/21505594.2020.1848108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2020] [Revised: 10/25/2020] [Accepted: 11/05/2020] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Summary: We characterized Mycobacterium bovis BCG isolates found in lung and brain samples from a previously vaccinated patient with IFNγR1 deficiency. The isolates collected displayed distinct genomic and phenotypic features consistent with host adaptation and associated changes in antibiotic susceptibility and virulence traits. Background: We report a case of a patient with partial recessive IFNγR1 deficiency who developed disseminated BCG infection after neonatal vaccination (BCG-vaccine). Distinct M. bovis BCG-vaccine derived clinical strains were recovered from the patient's lungs and brain. Methods: BCG strains were phenotypically (growth, antibiotic susceptibility, lipid) and genetically (whole genome sequencing) characterized. Mycobacteria cell infection models were used to assess apoptosis, necrosis, cytokine release, autophagy, and JAK-STAT signaling. Results: Clinical isolates BCG-brain and BCG-lung showed distinct Rv0667 rpoB mutations conferring high- and low-level rifampin resistance; the latter displayed clofazimine resistance through Rv0678 gene (MarR-like transcriptional regulator) mutations. BCG-brain and BCG-lung showed mutations in fadA2, fadE5, and mymA operon genes, respectively. Lipid profiles revealed reduced levels of PDIM in BCG-brain and BCG-lung and increased TAGs and Mycolic acid components in BCG-lung, compared to parent BCG-vaccine. In vitro infected cells showed that the BCG-lung induced a higher cytokine release, necrosis, and cell-associated bacterial load effect when compared to BCG-brain; conversely, both strains inhibited apoptosis and altered JAK-STAT signaling. Conclusions: During a chronic-disseminated BCG infection, BCG strains can evolve independently at different sites likely due to particular microenvironment features leading to differential antibiotic resistance, virulence traits resulting in dissimilar responses in different host tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cecilia B. Korol
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Center, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | | | - Kriti Arora
- Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Helena I. Boshoff
- Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Alexandra F. Freeman
- Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Alejandra King
- Department of Pediatric Immunology, Hospital Luis Calvo MacKenna, Universidad De, Chile, Chile
| | - Sonia Agrawal
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - Sean C. Daugherty
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | - Timothy Jancel
- Department of Pharmacy, Clinical Center, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Juraj Kabat
- Department Biological Imaging Section, Research Technologies Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Sundar Ganesan
- Department Biological Imaging Section, Research Technologies Branch, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Marina N. Torrero
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Center, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Elizabeth P. Sampaio
- Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Clifton Barry
- Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Steve M Holland
- Laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH, Bethesda, USA
| | - Hervé Tettelin
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Institute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, USA
| | | | - Adrian M. Zelazny
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Clinical Center, NIH, Bethesda, USA
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Fritschi N, Curtis N, Ritz N. Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) and new TB vaccines: Specific, cross-mycobacterial and off-target effects. Paediatr Respir Rev 2020; 36:57-64. [PMID: 32958428 PMCID: PMC7439992 DOI: 10.1016/j.prrv.2020.08.004] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/08/2020] [Accepted: 08/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022]
Abstract
The Bacille Calmette Guérin (BCG) vaccine was developed over a century ago and has become one of the most used vaccines without undergoing a modern vaccine development life cycle. Despite this, the vaccine has protected many millions from severe and disseminated forms of tuberculosis (TB). In addition, BCG has cross-mycobacterial effects against non-tuberculous mycobacteria and off-target (also called non-specific or heterologous) effects against other infections and diseases. More recently, BCG's effects on innate immunity suggest it might improve the immune response against viral respiratory infections including SARS-CoV-2. New TB vaccines, developed over the last 30 years, show promise, particularly in prevention of progression to disease from TB infection in young adults. The role of BCG in the context of new TB vaccines remains uncertain as most participants included in trials have been previously BCG immunised. BCG replacement vaccines are in efficacy trials and these may also have off-target effects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nora Fritschi
- Infectious Unit and Mycobacterial Research Group, University Children’s Hospital and Department of Clinical Research, University of Basel, Switzerland
| | - Nigel Curtis
- Infectious Diseases Group, Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Parkville, Victoria, Australia,Infectious Diseases Unit, The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia,Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Nicole Ritz
- Infectious Unit and Mycobacterial Research Group, University Children's Hospital and Department of Clinical Research, University of Basel, Switzerland; Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia; University of Basel Children's Hospital, Infectious Diseases Unit Basel, Switzerland.
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36
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Nadolinskaia NI, Karpov DS, Goncharenko AV. Vaccines Against Tuberculosis: Problems and Prospects (Review). APPL BIOCHEM MICRO+ 2020; 56:497-504. [PMID: 32981943 PMCID: PMC7508421 DOI: 10.1134/s0003683820050129] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/16/2020] [Revised: 04/13/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Despite the efforts of the global medical and scientific community, tuberculosis remains the leading cause of death from infectious diseases. The expectation of success associated with the development of new anti-TB drugs was not justified, and the attention of researchers was largely drawn to the creation of new mycobacterial strains for vaccination against tuberculosis. The proposed review contains current information on the existing vaccine strains and the development of new, genetically engineered strains for the prevention of tuberculosis and the prevention and treatment of other diseases. The review includes relevant information on the correlation between BCG vaccination and the frequency and severity of COVID-19 infection.
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Affiliation(s)
- N I Nadolinskaia
- Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Federal Research Center Fundamentals of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071 Moscow, Russia
| | - D S Karpov
- Engelhardt Institute of Molecular Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119991 Moscow, Russia
| | - A V Goncharenko
- Bach Institute of Biochemistry, Federal Research Center Fundamentals of Biotechnology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119071 Moscow, Russia
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37
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Narvskaya O, Starkova D, Levi D, Alexandrova N, Molchanov V, Chernyaeva E, Vyazovaya A, Mushkin A, Zhuravlev V, Solovieva N, Vishnevskiy B, Mokrousov I. First insight into the whole-genome sequence variations in Mycobacterium bovis BCG-1 (Russia) vaccine seed lots and their progeny clinical isolates from children with BCG-induced adverse events. BMC Genomics 2020; 21:567. [PMID: 32811436 PMCID: PMC7437937 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-020-06973-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/03/2020] [Accepted: 08/05/2020] [Indexed: 02/08/2023] Open
Abstract
Background The only licensed live Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine used to prevent severe childhood tuberculosis comprises genetically divergent strains with variable protective efficacy and rates of BCG-induced adverse events. The whole-genome sequencing (WGS) allowed evaluating the genome stability of BCG strains and the impact of spontaneous heterogeneity in seed and commercial lots on the efficacy of BCG-vaccines in different countries. Our study aimed to assess sequence variations and their putative effects on genes and protein functions in the BCG-1 (Russia) seed lots compared to their progeny isolates available from immunocompetent children with BCG-induced disease (mainly, osteitis). Results Based on the WGS data, we analyzed the links between seed lots 361, 367, and 368 used for vaccine manufacture in Russia in different periods, and their nine progeny isolates recovered from immunocompetent children with BCG-induced disease. The complete catalog of variants in genes relative to the reference genome (GenBank: CP013741) included 4 synonymous and 8 nonsynonymous single nucleotide polymorphisms, and 3 frameshift deletions. Seed lot 361 shared variants with 2 of 6 descendant isolates that had higher proportions of such polymorphisms in several genes, including ppsC, eccD5, and eccA5 involved in metabolism and cell wall processes and reportedly associated with virulence in mycobacteria. One isolate preserved variants of its parent seed lot 361 without gain of further changes in the sequence profile within 14 years. Conclusions The background genomic information allowed us for the first time to follow the BCG diversity starting from the freeze-dried seed lots to descendant clinical isolates. Sequence variations in several genes of seed lot 361 did not alter the genomic stability and viability of the vaccine and appeared accumulated in isolates during the survival in the human organism. The impact of the observed variations in the context of association with the development of BCG-induced disease should be evaluated in parallel with the immune status and host genetics. Comparative genomic studies of BCG seed lots and their descendant clinical isolates represent a beneficial approach to better understand the molecular bases of efficacy and adverse events during the long-term survival of BCG in the host organism.
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Affiliation(s)
- Olga Narvskaya
- Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics, St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute, St. Petersburg, 197101, Russia. .,St. Petersburg Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology, St. Petersburg, 191036, Russia.
| | - Daria Starkova
- Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics, St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute, St. Petersburg, 197101, Russia
| | - Diana Levi
- Scientific Center for Expert Evaluation of Medical Products, Moscow, 127051, Russia
| | - Natalia Alexandrova
- Scientific Center for Expert Evaluation of Medical Products, Moscow, 127051, Russia
| | - Vladimir Molchanov
- Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics, St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute, St. Petersburg, 197101, Russia. .,Present address: Van Andel Institute, Grand Rapids, MI, 49503-2518, USA.
| | | | - Anna Vyazovaya
- Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics, St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute, St. Petersburg, 197101, Russia
| | - Alexander Mushkin
- St. Petersburg Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology, St. Petersburg, 191036, Russia
| | - Viacheslav Zhuravlev
- St. Petersburg Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology, St. Petersburg, 191036, Russia
| | - Natalia Solovieva
- St. Petersburg Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology, St. Petersburg, 191036, Russia
| | - Boris Vishnevskiy
- St. Petersburg Research Institute of Phthisiopulmonology, St. Petersburg, 191036, Russia
| | - Igor Mokrousov
- Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Evolutionary Genetics, St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute, St. Petersburg, 197101, Russia
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38
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Sisco MC, Silva MG, Lopez B, Arguelles C, Mendonça-Lima L, de Waard JH, Duarte RS, Suffys PN. Newly sequenced genomes of four Bacillus Calmette Guerin vaccines. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2020; 115:e190401. [PMID: 32401897 PMCID: PMC7212995 DOI: 10.1590/0074-02760190401] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2019] [Accepted: 04/13/2020] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
Bacillus Calmette Guerin (BCG) vaccines comprise a family of related strains. Whole genome sequencing has allowed the better characterisation of the differences between many of the BCG vaccines. As sequencing technologies improve, updating of publicly available sequence data becomes common practice. We hereby announce the draft genome of four commonly used BCG vaccines in Brazil, Argentina and Venezuela.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Carolina Sisco
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Góes, Departamento de Microbiologia Médica, Laboratório de Micobactérias, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Biologia Molecular Aplicada às Micobactérias, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Marlei Gomés Silva
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Góes, Departamento de Microbiologia Médica, Laboratório de Micobactérias, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Beatriz Lopez
- Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Infecciosas, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Claudia Arguelles
- Instituto Nacional de Producción de Biológicos Carlos G Malbrán, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Leila Mendonça-Lima
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Jacobus H de Waard
- Servicio Autónomo Instituto de Biomedicina Dr Jacinto Convit, Caracas, Venezuela
- One Health Research Group, Universidad de Las Américas, Facultad de Ciencias de la Salud, Quito, Ecuador
| | - Rafael Silva Duarte
- Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Instituto de Microbiologia Paulo de Góes, Departamento de Microbiologia Médica, Laboratório de Micobactérias, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Philip Noel Suffys
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Biologia Molecular Aplicada às Micobactérias, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
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Bach-Griera M, Campo-Pérez V, Barbosa S, Traserra S, Guallar-Garrido S, Moya-Andérico L, Herrero-Abadía P, Luquin M, Rabanal RM, Torrents E, Julián E. Mycolicibacterium brumae Is a Safe and Non-Toxic Immunomodulatory Agent for Cancer Treatment. Vaccines (Basel) 2020; 8:E198. [PMID: 32344808 PMCID: PMC7349652 DOI: 10.3390/vaccines8020198] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2020] [Revised: 04/17/2020] [Accepted: 04/22/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Intravesical Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) immunotherapy remains the gold-standard treatment for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer patients, even though half of the patients develop adverse events to this therapy. On exploring BCG-alternative therapies, Mycolicibacterium brumae, a nontuberculous mycobacterium, has shown outstanding anti-tumor and immunomodulatory capabilities. As no infections due to M. brumae in humans, animals, or plants have been described, the safety and/or toxicity of this mycobacterium have not been previously addressed. In the present study, an analysis was made of M. brumae- and BCG-intravenously-infected severe combined immunodeficient (SCID) mice, M. brumae-intravesically-treated BALB/c mice, and intrahemacoelic-infected-Galleria mellonella larvae. Organs from infected mice and the hemolymph from larvae were processed to count bacterial burden. Blood samples from mice were also taken, and a wide range of hematological and biochemical parameters were analyzed. Finally, histopathological alterations in mouse tissues were evaluated. Our results demonstrate the safety and non-toxic profile of M. brumae. Differences were observed in the biochemical, hematological and histopathological analysis between M. brumae and BCG-infected mice, as well as survival curves rates and colony forming units (CFU) counts in both animal models. M. brumae constitutes a safe therapeutic biological agent, overcoming the safety and toxicity disadvantages presented by BCG in both mice and G. mellonella animal models.
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Affiliation(s)
- Marc Bach-Griera
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (M.B.-G.); (V.C.-P.); (S.G.-G.); (P.H.-A.); (M.L.)
| | - Víctor Campo-Pérez
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (M.B.-G.); (V.C.-P.); (S.G.-G.); (P.H.-A.); (M.L.)
- Bacterial Infections and Antimicrobial Therapies group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), 08028 Barcelona, Spain; (L.M.-A.); (E.T.)
| | - Sandra Barbosa
- Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (S.B.); (S.T.)
- Integrated Services of Laboratory Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sara Traserra
- Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (S.B.); (S.T.)
- Integrated Services of Laboratory Animals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sandra Guallar-Garrido
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (M.B.-G.); (V.C.-P.); (S.G.-G.); (P.H.-A.); (M.L.)
| | - Laura Moya-Andérico
- Bacterial Infections and Antimicrobial Therapies group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), 08028 Barcelona, Spain; (L.M.-A.); (E.T.)
| | - Paula Herrero-Abadía
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (M.B.-G.); (V.C.-P.); (S.G.-G.); (P.H.-A.); (M.L.)
| | - Marina Luquin
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (M.B.-G.); (V.C.-P.); (S.G.-G.); (P.H.-A.); (M.L.)
| | - Rosa Maria Rabanal
- Unitat de Patologia Murina i Comparada, Departament de Medicina i Cirurgia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain;
| | - Eduard Torrents
- Bacterial Infections and Antimicrobial Therapies group, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), 08028 Barcelona, Spain; (L.M.-A.); (E.T.)
- Microbiology Section, Department of Genetics, Microbiology and Statistics, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona, 643 Diagonal Ave., 08028 Barcelona, Spain
| | - Esther Julián
- Departament de Genètica i de Microbiologia, Facultat de Biociències, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 Barcelona, Spain; (M.B.-G.); (V.C.-P.); (S.G.-G.); (P.H.-A.); (M.L.)
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Angelidou A, Diray-Arce J, Conti MG, Smolen KK, van Haren SD, Dowling DJ, Husson RN, Levy O. BCG as a Case Study for Precision Vaccine Development: Lessons From Vaccine Heterogeneity, Trained Immunity, and Immune Ontogeny. Front Microbiol 2020; 11:332. [PMID: 32218774 PMCID: PMC7078104 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2020.00332] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 10.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2019] [Accepted: 02/14/2020] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
Vaccines have been traditionally developed with the presumption that they exert identical immunogenicity regardless of target population and that they provide protection solely against their target pathogen. However, it is increasingly appreciated that vaccines can have off-target effects and that vaccine immunogenicity can vary substantially with demographic factors such as age and sex. Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG), the live attenuated Mycobacterium bovis vaccine against tuberculosis (TB), represents a key example of these concepts. BCG vaccines are manufactured under different conditions across the globe generating divergent formulations. Epidemiologic studies have linked early life immunization with certain BCG formulations to an unanticipated reduction (∼50%) in all-cause mortality, especially in low birthweight males, greatly exceeding that attributable to TB prevention. This mortality benefit has been related to prevention of sepsis and respiratory infections suggesting that BCG induces "heterologous" protection against unrelated pathogens. Proposed mechanisms for heterologous protection include vaccine-induced immunometabolic shifts, epigenetic reprogramming of innate cell populations, and modulation of hematopoietic stem cell progenitors resulting in altered responses to subsequent stimuli, a phenomenon termed "trained immunity." In addition to genetic differences, licensed BCG formulations differ markedly in content of viable mycobacteria key for innate immune activation, potentially contributing to differences in the ability of these diverse formulations to induce TB-specific and heterologous protection. BCG immunomodulatory properties have also sparked interest in its potential use to prevent or alleviate autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, including type 1 diabetes mellitus and multiple sclerosis. BCG can also serve as a model: nanoparticle vaccine formulations incorporating Toll-like receptor 8 agonists can mimic some of BCG's innate immune activation, suggesting that aspects of BCG's effects can be induced with non-replicating stimuli. Overall, BCG represents a paradigm for precision vaccinology, lessons from which will help inform next generation vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Asimenia Angelidou
- Division of Newborn Medicine, Boston Children’s Hospital and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, United States
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Joann Diray-Arce
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Maria Giulia Conti
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Maternal and Child Health, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Kinga K. Smolen
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Simon Daniël van Haren
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - David J. Dowling
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Robert N. Husson
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
| | - Ofer Levy
- Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
- Division of Infectious Diseases, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, United States
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Merker M, Kohl TA, Barilar I, Andres S, Fowler PW, Chryssanthou E, Ängeby K, Jureen P, Moradigaravand D, Parkhill J, Peacock SJ, Schön T, Maurer FP, Walker T, Köser C, Niemann S. Phylogenetically informative mutations in genes implicated in antibiotic resistance in Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex. Genome Med 2020; 12:27. [PMID: 32143680 PMCID: PMC7060619 DOI: 10.1186/s13073-020-00726-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 47] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2019] [Accepted: 02/25/2020] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND A comprehensive understanding of the pre-existing genetic variation in genes associated with antibiotic resistance in the Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) is needed to accurately interpret whole-genome sequencing data for genotypic drug susceptibility testing (DST). METHODS We investigated mutations in 92 genes implicated in resistance to 21 anti-tuberculosis drugs using the genomes of 405 phylogenetically diverse MTBC strains. The role of phylogenetically informative mutations was assessed by routine phenotypic DST data for the first-line drugs isoniazid, rifampicin, ethambutol, and pyrazinamide from a separate collection of over 7000 clinical strains. Selected mutations/strains were further investigated by minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) testing. RESULTS Out of 547 phylogenetically informative mutations identified, 138 were classified as not correlating with resistance to first-line drugs. MIC testing did not reveal a discernible impact of a Rv1979c deletion shared by M. africanum lineage 5 strains on resistance to clofazimine. Finally, we found molecular evidence that some MTBC subgroups may be hyper-susceptible to bedaquiline and clofazimine by different loss-of-function mutations affecting a drug efflux pump subunit (MmpL5). CONCLUSIONS Our findings underline that the genetic diversity in MTBC has to be studied more systematically to inform the design of clinical trials and to define sound epidemiologic cut-off values (ECOFFs) for new and repurposed anti-tuberculosis drugs. In that regard, our comprehensive variant catalogue provides a solid basis for the interpretation of mutations in genotypic as well as in phenotypic DST assays.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matthias Merker
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Borstel, Germany.
- Molecular and Experimental Mycobacteriology, Research Center Borstel, Parkallee 1, 23845, Borstel, Germany.
| | - Thomas A Kohl
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Borstel, Germany
- Molecular and Experimental Mycobacteriology, Research Center Borstel, Parkallee 1, 23845, Borstel, Germany
| | - Ivan Barilar
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Borstel, Germany
- Molecular and Experimental Mycobacteriology, Research Center Borstel, Parkallee 1, 23845, Borstel, Germany
| | - Sönke Andres
- National and WHO Supranational Reference Center for Mycobacteria, Research Center Borstel, Borstel, Germany
| | - Philip W Fowler
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Erja Chryssanthou
- Department of Clinical Microbiology, Karolinska University Hospital, Solna, Stockholm, Sweden
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Kristian Ängeby
- Department of Clinical Science and Education, Emergency Medicine, Stockholm South General Hospital, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden
| | | | - Danesh Moradigaravand
- Center for Computational Biology, Institute of Cancer and Genomic Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK
| | - Julian Parkhill
- Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Thomas Schön
- Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Kalmar County Hospital, Kalmar, Sweden
- Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Division of Medical Microbiology, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
| | - Florian P Maurer
- National and WHO Supranational Reference Center for Mycobacteria, Research Center Borstel, Borstel, Germany
- Institute of Medical Microbiology, Virology and Hospital Hygiene, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Timothy Walker
- Nuffield Department of Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Claudio Köser
- Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Stefan Niemann
- German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Partner site Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems, Borstel, Germany
- Molecular and Experimental Mycobacteriology, Research Center Borstel, Parkallee 1, 23845, Borstel, Germany
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42
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Modipane L, Reva O, Magazi BT, Antiabong JF, Osei Sekyere J, Mbelle NM. Phylogenomic and epidemiological insights into two clinical Mycobacterium bovis BCG strains circulating in South Africa. Int J Infect Dis 2019; 87:32-38. [PMID: 31442625 DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2019.08.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2019] [Revised: 08/08/2019] [Accepted: 08/09/2019] [Indexed: 12/19/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mycobacterium bovis BCG is a live, attenuated tuberculosis vaccine. While the vaccine protects infants from tuberculosis, complications including disseminated infections have been reported following vaccination. Genetically diverse BCG sub-strains now exist following continuous passaging of the original Pasteur strain for vaccine manufacture. This genetic diversity reportedly influences the severity of disseminated BCG infections and the efficacy of BCG immunization. METHODS M. bovis BCG was isolated from infants suspected of being infected with tuberculosis. The whole genome of the clinical isolates and BCG Moscow were sequenced using Illumina Miseq and the sequences were analysed using CLC Genomics Workbench 7.0, PhyResSE v1.0, and Parsnp. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS Genetic variations between the clinical strains and the reference BCG Copenhagen were identified. The clinical strains shared only one mutation in a secretion protein. Mutations were identified in various antibiotic resistance genes in the BCG isolates, which suggests their potential as multidrug-resistant (MDR) phenotypes. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the two isolates were distantly related, and the M1_S48 clinical isolate was closely related to M. bovis BCG Moscow. The phylogenomics results imply that two different BCG strains may be circulating in South Africa. However, it is difficult to associate the BCG vaccine strain administered and the BCG strain supplied with specific adverse events, as BCGiosis is under-reported. This study presents background genomic information for future surveillance and tracking of the distribution of BCGiosis-associated mycobacteria. It is also the first to report on the genomes of clinical BCG strains in Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lesedi Modipane
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
| | - Oleg Reva
- Department of Biochemistry, Genetics and Microbiology, Centre for Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
| | - Beki Themba Magazi
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
| | - John Francis Antiabong
- Centre for Infectious Diseases Research and Experimental Therapeutics, Baylor Research Institute, TX, USA.
| | - John Osei Sekyere
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa.
| | - Nontombi Marylucy Mbelle
- Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa; National Health Laboratory Services, Department of Medical Microbiology, Pretoria, South Africa.
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Tan GH, Kuk C, Zlotta AR. Are there differences among bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) strains regarding their clinical efficacy in the treatment of non-muscleinvasive bladder cancer? The jury is still out but the answer is likely no. Can Urol Assoc J 2019; 14:E54-E56. [PMID: 31348742 DOI: 10.5489/cuaj.5923] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Guan Hee Tan
- Division of Urology, Department of Surgical Oncology, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Cynthia Kuk
- Division of Urology, Department of Surgical Oncology, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Sinai Health System, Toronto, ON, Canada
| | - Alexandre R Zlotta
- Division of Urology, Department of Surgical Oncology, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada.,Division of Urology, Department of Surgery, Sinai Health System, Toronto, ON, Canada
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Borgers K, Ou JY, Zheng PX, Tiels P, Van Hecke A, Plets E, Michielsen G, Festjens N, Callewaert N, Lin YC. Reference genome and comparative genome analysis for the WHO reference strain for Mycobacterium bovis BCG Danish, the present tuberculosis vaccine. BMC Genomics 2019; 20:561. [PMID: 31286858 PMCID: PMC6615170 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-5909-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2019] [Accepted: 06/17/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Mycobacterium bovis bacillus Calmette-Guérin (M. bovis BCG) is the only vaccine available against tuberculosis (TB). In an effort to standardize the vaccine production, three substrains, i.e. BCG Danish 1331, Tokyo 172-1 and Russia BCG-1 were established as the WHO reference strains. Both for BCG Tokyo 172-1 as Russia BCG-1, reference genomes exist, not for BCG Danish. In this study, we set out to determine the completely assembled genome sequence for BCG Danish and to establish a workflow for genome characterization of engineering-derived vaccine candidate strains. RESULTS By combining second (Illumina) and third (PacBio) generation sequencing in an integrated genome analysis workflow for BCG, we could construct the completely assembled genome sequence of BCG Danish 1331 (07/270) (and an engineered derivative that is studied as an improved vaccine candidate, a SapM KO), including the resolution of the analytically challenging long duplication regions. We report the presence of a DU1-like duplication in BCG Danish 1331, while this tandem duplication was previously thought to be exclusively restricted to BCG Pasteur. Furthermore, comparative genome analyses of publicly available data for BCG substrains showed the absence of a DU1 in certain BCG Pasteur substrains and the presence of a DU1-like duplication in some BCG China substrains. By integrating publicly available data, we provide an update to the genome features of the commonly used BCG strains. CONCLUSIONS We demonstrate how this analysis workflow enables the resolution of genome duplications and of the genome of engineered derivatives of the BCG Danish vaccine strain. The BCG Danish WHO reference genome will serve as a reference for future engineered strains and the established workflow can be used to enhance BCG vaccine standardization.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katlyn Borgers
- VIB-UGhent Center for Medical Biotechnology, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University; Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Jheng-Yang Ou
- Biotechnology Center in Southern Taiwan, Academia Sinica, Tainan, 74145 Taiwan
- Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, Tainan, 74145 Taiwan
| | - Po-Xing Zheng
- Biotechnology Center in Southern Taiwan, Academia Sinica, Tainan, 74145 Taiwan
- Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, Tainan, 74145 Taiwan
| | - Petra Tiels
- VIB-UGhent Center for Medical Biotechnology, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University; Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Annelies Van Hecke
- VIB-UGhent Center for Medical Biotechnology, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University; Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Evelyn Plets
- VIB-UGhent Center for Medical Biotechnology, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University; Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Gitte Michielsen
- VIB-UGhent Center for Medical Biotechnology, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University; Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Nele Festjens
- VIB-UGhent Center for Medical Biotechnology, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University; Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Nico Callewaert
- VIB-UGhent Center for Medical Biotechnology, Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
- Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, Ghent University; Technologiepark-Zwijnaarde 71, 9052 Ghent, Belgium
| | - Yao-Cheng Lin
- Biotechnology Center in Southern Taiwan, Academia Sinica, Tainan, 74145 Taiwan
- Agricultural Biotechnology Research Center, Academia Sinica, Tainan, 74145 Taiwan
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45
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Mendum TA, Chandran A, Williams K, Vordermeier HM, Villarreal-Ramos B, Wu H, Singh A, Smith AA, Butler RE, Prasad A, Bharti N, Banerjee R, Kasibhatla SM, Bhatt A, Stewart GR, McFadden J. Transposon libraries identify novel Mycobacterium bovis BCG genes involved in the dynamic interactions required for BCG to persist during in vivo passage in cattle. BMC Genomics 2019; 20:431. [PMID: 31138110 PMCID: PMC6540422 DOI: 10.1186/s12864-019-5791-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2018] [Accepted: 05/10/2019] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND BCG is the most widely used vaccine of all time and remains the only licensed vaccine for use against tuberculosis in humans. BCG also protects other species such as cattle against tuberculosis, but due to its incompatibility with current tuberculin testing regimens remains unlicensed. BCG's efficacy relates to its ability to persist in the host for weeks, months or even years after vaccination. It is unclear to what degree this ability to resist the host's immune system is maintained by a dynamic interaction between the vaccine strain and its host as is the case for pathogenic mycobacteria. RESULTS To investigate this question, we constructed transposon mutant libraries in both BCG Pasteur and BCG Danish strains and inoculated them into bovine lymph nodes. Cattle are well suited to such an assay, as they are naturally susceptible to tuberculosis and are one of the few animal species for which a BCG vaccination program has been proposed. After three weeks, the BCG were recovered and the input and output libraries compared to identify mutants with in vivo fitness defects. Less than 10% of the mutated genes were identified as affecting in vivo fitness, they included genes encoding known mycobacterial virulence functions such as mycobactin synthesis, sugar transport, reductive sulphate assimilation, PDIM synthesis and cholesterol metabolism. Many other attenuating genes had not previously been recognised as having a virulence phenotype. To test these genes, we generated and characterised three knockout mutants that were predicted by transposon mutagenesis to be attenuating in vivo: pyruvate carboxylase, a hypothetical protein (BCG_1063), and a putative cyclopropane-fatty-acyl-phospholipid synthase. The knockout strains survived as well as wild type during in vitro culture and in bovine macrophages, yet demonstrated marked attenuation during passage in bovine lymph nodes confirming that they were indeed involved in persistence of BCG in the host. CONCLUSION These data show that BCG is far from passive during its interaction with the host, rather it continues to employ its remaining virulence factors, to interact with the host's innate immune system to allow it to persist, a property that is important for its protective efficacy.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tom A. Mendum
- School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK
| | - Aneesh Chandran
- School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK
| | - Kerstin Williams
- School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK
| | | | | | - H. Wu
- School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK
| | - Albel Singh
- Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
| | - Alex A. Smith
- School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK
| | - Rachel E. Butler
- School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK
| | - Aravind Prasad
- HPC-Medical and Bioinformatics Applications Group, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Innovation Park, Panchavati, Pashan, Pune, Maharashtra 411008 India
| | - Neeraj Bharti
- HPC-Medical and Bioinformatics Applications Group, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Innovation Park, Panchavati, Pashan, Pune, Maharashtra 411008 India
| | - Ruma Banerjee
- HPC-Medical and Bioinformatics Applications Group, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Innovation Park, Panchavati, Pashan, Pune, Maharashtra 411008 India
| | - Sunitha M. Kasibhatla
- HPC-Medical and Bioinformatics Applications Group, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Innovation Park, Panchavati, Pashan, Pune, Maharashtra 411008 India
| | - Apoorva Bhatt
- Institute of Microbiology and Infection, School of Biosciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, UK
| | - Graham R. Stewart
- School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK
| | - Johnjoe McFadden
- School of Biosciences and Medicine, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH UK
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Abdallah AM, Weerdenburg EM, Guan Q, Ummels R, Borggreve S, Adroub SA, Malas TB, Naeem R, Zhang H, Otto TD, Bitter W, Pain A. Integrated transcriptomic and proteomic analysis of pathogenic mycobacteria and their esx-1 mutants reveal secretion-dependent regulation of ESX-1 substrates and WhiB6 as a transcriptional regulator. PLoS One 2019; 14:e0211003. [PMID: 30673778 PMCID: PMC6343904 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0211003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2018] [Accepted: 01/04/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The mycobacterial type VII secretion system ESX-1 is responsible for the secretion of a number of proteins that play important roles during host infection. The regulation of the expression of secreted proteins is often essential to establish successful infection. Using transcriptome sequencing, we found that the abrogation of ESX-1 function in Mycobacterium marinum leads to a pronounced increase in gene expression levels of the espA operon during the infection of macrophages. In addition, the disruption of ESX-1-mediated protein secretion also leads to a specific down-regulation of the ESX-1 substrates, but not of the structural components of this system, during growth in culture medium. This effect is observed in both M. marinum and M. tuberculosis. We established that down-regulation of ESX-1 substrates is the result of a regulatory process that is influenced by the putative transcriptional regulator whib6, which is located adjacent to the esx-1 locus. In addition, the overexpression of the ESX-1-associated PE35/PPE68 protein pair resulted in a significantly increased secretion of the ESX-1 substrate EsxA, demonstrating a functional link between these proteins. Taken together, these data show that WhiB6 is required for the secretion-dependent regulation of ESX-1 substrates and that ESX-1 substrates are regulated independently from the structural components, both during infection and as a result of active secretion.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abdallah M. Abdallah
- Pathogen Genomics Laboratory, BESE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal-Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- * E-mail: (AMA); (WB); (AP)
| | - Eveline M. Weerdenburg
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Qingtian Guan
- Pathogen Genomics Laboratory, BESE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal-Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | - Roy Ummels
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Stephanie Borggreve
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Sabir A. Adroub
- Pathogen Genomics Laboratory, BESE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal-Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | - Tareq B. Malas
- Pathogen Genomics Laboratory, BESE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal-Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | - Raeece Naeem
- Pathogen Genomics Laboratory, BESE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal-Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | - Huoming Zhang
- Bioscience Core Laboratory, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal-Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
| | - Thomas D. Otto
- Pathogen Genomics, The Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Wilbert Bitter
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
- * E-mail: (AMA); (WB); (AP)
| | - Arnab Pain
- Pathogen Genomics Laboratory, BESE Division, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal-Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
- * E-mail: (AMA); (WB); (AP)
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Monteiro-Maia R, Correa PR, Sousa-Vasconcelos PDS, Pinho RTD, Mendonça-Lima L. Gain of function in Mycobacterium bovis BCG Moreau due to loss of a transcriptional repressor. Mem Inst Oswaldo Cruz 2018; 113:e180267. [PMID: 30328891 PMCID: PMC6180650 DOI: 10.1590/0074-02760180267] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/31/2018] [Accepted: 09/11/2018] [Indexed: 11/26/2022] Open
Abstract
The Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine comprises a family of genetically different strains derived by the loss of genomic regions (RDs) and other mutations. In BCG Moreau, loss of RD16 inactivates rv3405c* , encoding a transcriptional repressor that negatively regulates the expression of Rv3406, an alkyl sulfatase. To evaluate the impact of this loss on the BCG and host cell viability and the cytokine profile, THP-1 cells were infected with BCG Moreau (harbouring the empty vector) and a complemented strain carrying a functional copy of rv3405c. Viability of the host cells and bacteria as well as the pattern of cytokine secretion were evaluated. Our results show that the viability of BCG Moreau is higher than that of the complemented strain in an axenic medium, suggesting a possible functional gain associated with the constitutive expression of Rv3406. Viability of the host cells did not vary significantly between recombinant strains, but differences in the profiles of the cytokine secretion (IL-1β and IL-6) were observed. Our results suggest an example of a functional gain due to gene loss contributing to the elucidation of the impact of RD16 on the physiology of BCG Moreau.
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Affiliation(s)
- Renata Monteiro-Maia
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Paloma Rezende Correa
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | | | - Rosa Teixeira de Pinho
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Imunologia Clínica, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
| | - Leila Mendonça-Lima
- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz-Fiocruz, Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Laboratório de Genômica Funcional e Bioinformática, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brasil
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Franceschelli JJ, Belardinelli JM, Tong P, Loftus B, Recio-Balsells A, Labadié GR, Gordon SV, Morbidoni HR. A katG S315T or an ahpC promoter mutation mediate Mycobacterium tuberculosis resistance to 2-thiophen carboxylic acid hydrazide, an inhibitor resembling the anti-tubercular drugs Isoniazid and Ethionamide. Tuberculosis (Edinb) 2018; 112:69-78. [PMID: 30205971 DOI: 10.1016/j.tube.2018.08.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2018] [Revised: 07/26/2018] [Accepted: 08/01/2018] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
Abstract
Clinical isolates of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis are differentially susceptible to 2-Thiophen Hydrazide (TCH); however its mechanism of action or the reasons for that difference are unknown. We report herein that under our experimental conditions, TCH inhibits M. tuberculosis in solid but not in liquid medium, and that in spite of resembling Isoniazid and Ethionamide, it does not affect mycolic acid synthesis. To understand the mechanisms of action of TCH we isolated M. tuberculosis TCH resistant mutants which fell into two groups; one resistant to TCH and Isoniazid but not to Ethionamide or Triclosan, and the other resistant only to TCH with no, or marginal, cross resistance to Isoniazid. A S315T katG mutation conferred resistance to TCH while katG expression from a plasmid reduced M. tuberculosis MIC to this drug, suggesting a possible involvement of KatG in TCH activation. Whole genome sequencing of mutants from this second group revealed a single mutation in the alkylhydroperoxide reductase ahpC promoter locus in half of the mutants, while the remaining contained mutations in dispensable genes. This is the first report of the genetics underlying the action of TCH and of the involvement of ahpC as the sole basis for resistance to an anti-tubercular compound.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jorgelina J Franceschelli
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, 2000, Argentina
| | - Juan M Belardinelli
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, 2000, Argentina
| | - Ping Tong
- UCD School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | - Brendan Loftus
- UCD School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland; UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
| | | | | | - Stephen V Gordon
- UCD School of Medicine, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland; UCD Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland; UCD School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, University College Dublin, Dublin 4, Ireland.
| | - Hector R Morbidoni
- Laboratorio de Microbiología Molecular, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario, 2000, Argentina.
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Ahn SK, Tran V, Leung A, Ng M, Li M, Liu J. Recombinant BCG Overexpressing phoP-phoR Confers Enhanced Protection against Tuberculosis. Mol Ther 2018; 26:2863-2874. [PMID: 30274790 PMCID: PMC6277425 DOI: 10.1016/j.ymthe.2018.08.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2018] [Revised: 08/23/2018] [Accepted: 08/24/2018] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
The live tuberculosis vaccine Mycobacterium bovis BCG (Bacille Calmette-Guérin) comprises a number of genetically distinct substrains. In BCG-Prague, phoP of the PhoP-PhoR two-component system is a pseudogene due to a single insertion mutation. We hypothesized that this mutation partially accounts for the low immunogenicity of BCG-Prague observed in the 1970s. In this study, we showed that complementation with the M. bovis allele of phoP restored BCG-Prague’s immunogenicity. Furthermore, we showed that overexpression of the M. bovis allele of phoP-phoR in BCG-Japan, a strain already containing a copy of phoP-phoR, further enhanced immunogenicity and protective efficacy. Vaccination of C57BL/6 mice with the recombinant strain rBCG-Japan/PhoPR induced higher levels of interferon-γ (IFN-γ) production by CD4+ T cells than that with the parental BCG. Guinea pigs vaccinated with rBCG-Japan/PhoPR were better protected against challenge with Mycobacterium tuberculosis than those immunized with the parental BCG, showing significantly longer survival time, reduced bacterial burdens, and less severe pathology. Taken together, our study has identified a genetic modification that could be generally applied to generate new recombinant BCG vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sang Kyun Ahn
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
| | - Vanessa Tran
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
| | - Andrea Leung
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
| | - Mark Ng
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
| | - Ming Li
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada
| | - Jun Liu
- Department of Molecular Genetics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5G 1M1, Canada.
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Ates LS, Sayes F, Frigui W, Ummels R, Damen MPM, Bottai D, Behr MA, van Heijst JWJ, Bitter W, Majlessi L, Brosch R. RD5-mediated lack of PE_PGRS and PPE-MPTR export in BCG vaccine strains results in strong reduction of antigenic repertoire but little impact on protection. PLoS Pathog 2018; 14:e1007139. [PMID: 29912964 PMCID: PMC6023246 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1007139] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2018] [Revised: 06/28/2018] [Accepted: 06/05/2018] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Tuberculosis is the deadliest infectious disease worldwide. Although the BCG vaccine is widely used, it does not efficiently protect against pulmonary tuberculosis and an improved tuberculosis vaccine is therefore urgently needed. Mycobacterium tuberculosis uses different ESX/Type VII secretion (T7S) systems to transport proteins important for virulence and host immune responses. We recently reported that secretion of T7S substrates belonging to the mycobacteria-specific Pro-Glu (PE) and Pro-Pro-Glu (PPE) proteins of the PGRS (polymorphic GC-rich sequences) and MPTR (major polymorphic tandem repeat) subfamilies required both a functional ESX-5 system and a functional PPE38/71 protein for secretion. Inactivation of ppe38/71 and the resulting loss of PE_PGRS/PPE-MPTR secretion were linked to increased virulence of M. tuberculosis strains. Here, we show that a predicted total of 89 PE_PGRS/PPE-MPTR surface proteins are not exported by certain animal-adapted strains of the M. tuberculosis complex including M. bovis. This Δppe38/71-associated secretion defect therefore also occurs in the M. bovis-derived tuberculosis vaccine BCG and could be partially restored by introduction of the M. tuberculosis ppe38-locus. Epitope mapping of the PPE-MPTR protein PPE10, further allowed us to monitor T-cell responses in splenocytes from BCG/M. tuberculosis immunized mice, confirming the dependence of PPE10-specific immune-induction on ESX-5/PPE38-mediated secretion. Restoration of PE_PGRS/PPE-MPTR secretion in recombinant BCG neither altered global antigenic presentation or activation of innate immune cells, nor protective efficacy in two different mouse vaccination-infection models. This unexpected finding stimulates a reassessment of the immunomodulatory properties of PE_PGRS/PPE-MPTR proteins, some of which are contained in vaccine formulations currently in clinical evaluation. One of the major findings of the pioneering Mycobacterium tuberculosis H37Rv genome sequencing project was the identification of the highly abundant PE and PPE proteins, named after their N-terminal motifs Pro–Glu (PE) or Pro–Pro–Glu (PPE). Within the 20 years of research since then, many claims were made that PE/PPE proteins, including the two large subgroups encoded by repetitive sequences with very high GC content (PE_PGRS and PPE-MPTR families), are exported to the bacterial surface or beyond, and show broad immunomodulatory impact on host-pathogen interaction. We thus screened strains from different branches of the M. tuberculosis complex, including the attenuated Mycobacterium bovis BCG vaccine strains, for their capacity to export PE_PGRS/PPE-MPTR proteins. Strikingly, we found that BCG strains were unable to export the plethora of PE_PGRS/PPE-MPTR proteins due to the absence of the region of difference RD5, which in M. tuberculosis encodes PPE38, required for PE_PGRS/PPE-MPTR export. Surprisingly, the restoration of PE_PGRS/PPE-MPTR export by genetic complementation in recombinant BCG did not result in immunomodulatory changes or altered protection in mouse models. Our results thus put into perspective the numerous reports on virulence-associated immunomodulatory impact of individual PE_PGRS and PPE-MPTR proteins and open novel questions on their biological function(s).
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Affiliation(s)
- Louis S. Ates
- Institut Pasteur, Unit for Integrated Mycobacterial Pathogenomics, CNRS UMR3525, Paris, France
- Department of Experimental Immunology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- * E-mail: (LSA); (RB)
| | - Fadel Sayes
- Institut Pasteur, Unit for Integrated Mycobacterial Pathogenomics, CNRS UMR3525, Paris, France
| | - Wafa Frigui
- Institut Pasteur, Unit for Integrated Mycobacterial Pathogenomics, CNRS UMR3525, Paris, France
| | - Roy Ummels
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Merel P. M. Damen
- Institut Pasteur, Unit for Integrated Mycobacterial Pathogenomics, CNRS UMR3525, Paris, France
- Section Molecular Microbiology, Amsterdam Institute of Molecules, Medicine & Systems, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Daria Bottai
- University of Pisa, Department of Biology, Pisa, Italy
| | - Marcel A. Behr
- McGill International TB Centre, Infectious Diseases and Immunity in Global Health Program at the McGill University Health Centre Research Institute, Montreal, Canada
| | - Jeroen W. J. van Heijst
- Department of Experimental Immunology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Wilbert Bitter
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Infection Prevention, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
- Section Molecular Microbiology, Amsterdam Institute of Molecules, Medicine & Systems, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Laleh Majlessi
- Institut Pasteur, Unit for Integrated Mycobacterial Pathogenomics, CNRS UMR3525, Paris, France
| | - Roland Brosch
- Institut Pasteur, Unit for Integrated Mycobacterial Pathogenomics, CNRS UMR3525, Paris, France
- * E-mail: (LSA); (RB)
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