TY - JOUR
T1 - Bacille Calmette-Guérin vaccination at birth and differential white blood cell count in infancy. A randomised clinical trial
AU - Jensen, Signe Kjeldgaard
AU - Jensen, Trine Mølbæk
AU - Birk, Nina Marie
AU - Stensballe, Lone Graff
AU - Benn, Christine Stabell
AU - Jensen, Kristoffer Jarlov
AU - Pryds, Ole
AU - Jeppesen, Dorthe Lisbeth
AU - Nissen, Thomas Nørrelykke
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - Background: The Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) may have beneficial non-specific effects (NSEs) beyond the protection against TB. This may be related to modifications of the innate immune system. We investigated the effect of BCG at birth on differential white blood cell (WBC) count in healthy, Danish infants. Method: The Danish Calmette Study randomised newborns to BCG at birth (Danish strain 1331, Statens Serum Institut) or no intervention. A sub-group of infants had blood samples collected 4 days after randomisation (n = 161), and at age 3 months (n = 152) and 13 months (n = 300). We evaluated the effect of BCG on WBC differential count (total leucocytes, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophil, neutrophil and basophil granulocytes (109 cells/L)) measured in peripheral blood. Results: Overall, we found no effect of BCG on differential WBC counts at any time point. Conclusion: BCG at birth did not affect WBC count in our cohort of healthy, Danish infants.
AB - Background: The Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine against tuberculosis (TB) may have beneficial non-specific effects (NSEs) beyond the protection against TB. This may be related to modifications of the innate immune system. We investigated the effect of BCG at birth on differential white blood cell (WBC) count in healthy, Danish infants. Method: The Danish Calmette Study randomised newborns to BCG at birth (Danish strain 1331, Statens Serum Institut) or no intervention. A sub-group of infants had blood samples collected 4 days after randomisation (n = 161), and at age 3 months (n = 152) and 13 months (n = 300). We evaluated the effect of BCG on WBC differential count (total leucocytes, lymphocytes, monocytes, eosinophil, neutrophil and basophil granulocytes (109 cells/L)) measured in peripheral blood. Results: Overall, we found no effect of BCG on differential WBC counts at any time point. Conclusion: BCG at birth did not affect WBC count in our cohort of healthy, Danish infants.
KW - Bacillus Calmette-Guérin
KW - Heterologous immunity
KW - Infants
KW - Non-specific effects
KW - Trained innate immunity
KW - Vaccination
KW - White blood cell differential count
U2 - 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.02.006
DO - 10.1016/j.vaccine.2020.02.006
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 32057570
SN - 0264-410X
VL - 38
SP - 2449
EP - 2455
JO - Vaccine
JF - Vaccine
IS - 11
ER -