Immunotherapy of COVID-19 with Bacille Calmette – Guerin: Where is the missing red herring?
Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases
| Field | Value | |
| Title | Immunotherapy of COVID-19 with Bacille Calmette – Guerin: Where is the missing red herring? | |
| Creator | Saxena, Hari M. | |
| Description | Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) morbidity and mortality was found to be less severe in countries where Bacille Calmette – Guerin (BCG) vaccination of the population is carried out. Conjugating Purified Protein Derivative (PPD) onto tumour cells and injecting into BCG primed mice was found to enhance anti-tumour immune response. We had proposed earlier that in vitro activated autologous anti-tumour T-cells bearing Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) II on their surface, if pulsed with PPD and re-infused in a BCG – primed patient, can activate PPD – specific helper T-cells and the focused secretion of lymphokines like the IL-2 can selectively amplify the antitumor T-cell response by their proliferation and activation in a specific manner bypassing the suppression exerted by the anti-idiotypic and suppressor cells. The prime – boost strategy with the BCG–PPD system can also be applied to the immunoprophylaxis and immunotherapy of COVID-19. The autologous anti-Corona virus B and T lymphocytes can be activated in vitro by inactivated virus or mitogens like Concanavalin A to express MHC class II molecules on their surface and pulsed with PPD for carrier targeting in vivo. Such PPD – pulsed activated (MHC-II+ve) anti-viral lymphocytes if transfused back into a patient already vaccinated with BCG during childhood or primed with BCG during adulthood 2 weeks before transfusion, could lead to a high magnitude of selective in vivo amplification of specific anti-viral lymphocytes, which can mount adequate and appropriate immune response to get rid of the virus and cure the patient from COVID-19. Conjugating antigens to PPD and injecting into BCG primed humans may also be helpful for immunoprophylaxis against COVID-19. Thus, PPD may prove to be the red herring in the BCG therapy of COVID-19. | |
| Publisher | AOSIS Publishing | |
| Date | 2021-03-05 | |
| Identifier | 10.4102/sajid.v36i1.215 | |
| Source | Southern African Journal of Infectious Diseases; Vol 36, No 1 (2021); 4 pages 2313-1810 2312-0053 | |
| Language | eng | |
| Relation |
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:
https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/215/560
https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/215/559
https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/215/561
https://sajid.co.za/index.php/sajid/article/view/215/558
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