About a year ago, a fascinating study was published, carried out by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University of the Negev, which strengthened the connection between the BCG vaccine and protection against the corona virus * Now it turns out that his protection is wider
Tuberculosis is one of the most common causes of death worldwide. But the vast majority of cases in the world diagnosed as infection and death as a result of tuberculosis are concentrated in third world countries. The vaccine developed for tuberculosis in France about 100 years ago is called BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guerin) for short and is based on the exposure of a "weakened" bacterium that causes the disease. Even 100 years after its development, it is considered one of the most important and safest vaccines for children in tuberculosis-affected areas. This vaccine is also used as the first line in the treatment of bladder cancer patients for about 40 years, and is considered the first immunotherapy treatment in the world. Data accumulated over time indicated that BCG may do much more than protect "only" from tuberculosis, and in fact it could be assumed that its beneficial effect derives from a non-specific action of strengthening the immune system. Despite this, the vaccine that was put into use in Israel in 1955 has become "redundant" in our time, and following studies that showed that in countries where the tuberculosis rate is not high, the vaccine is not very effective, the vaccine was stopped and today it is given according to a procedure only to newborns and children up to the age of 4 from families of new immigrants and residents who are not Citizens of Israel, coming from countries where the incidence of tuberculosis is high.
About a year ago, a fascinating study was published, carried out by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Ben Gurion University of the Negev, which strengthened the connection between the BCG vaccine and protection against the corona virus. The researchers analyzed data from 55 countries, representing 62.9% of the world's population, and found that tuberculosis vaccines given in the last 15 years may provide protection against the coronavirus for people under the age of 24. The findings were published in the journal Vaccines. Prof. Michal Liniel from the Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University, one of the leaders of the research, defined the BCG as "one of the most successful vaccines ever created in the world".
In a recent study conducted by an extensive research team led by research student Daniel Klinger from the Institute of Life Sciences at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a student from the research group of Prof. Michal Liniel, a researcher who has been involved in the study of the corona virus for the past year, in collaboration with other researchers from the Hebrew University (Prof. Hillel Berkoviar, Prof. Rels Greenblatt), researchers from Ben Gurion University (Dr. Nadav Rappaport), the Klalit Research Center (Dr. Noam Barda), the University of California at Los Angeles (Prof. Eran Halperin and his student Brian Hill), and the Hadassah Medical Center (Prof. Ofer Gafrit) - the possibility that repeated exposure to BCG during the immunotherapy treatment in bladder cancer patients may reduce their risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases of the nervous system such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's was examined. This study was recently published in Vaccines.
Where did it all start? in the global corona crisis. According to Prof. Liniel, "When the corona epidemic started to hit the world a year and a half ago, in the first wave, we suddenly noticed that there are countries that are affected by the disease in an unusual way. We saw a phenomenon that really surprised us - European countries that have relatively strong economies and medical systems, such as England, Spain and Italy, were severely affected compared to other countries close to them. At the time we were researching this vaccine, BCG. A scientific test we carried out revealed that countries that are not vaccinated against BCG were more vulnerable to Corona, compared to countries where vaccinations continue to this day or where the citizens were vaccinated until recently. The correlations between the tuberculosis vaccination and corona infection were amazing, especially regarding the young population. Those vaccinated against tuberculosis had some degree of protection against the corona, without knowing it. Following our study, many research groups continued to test this. Even then I understood that there is something in this vaccine that is beyond tuberculosis itself."
The results of the present study were based on a large-scale (and worldwide) retrospective work in several medical centers - including the Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital and the Los Angeles University Hospital (UCLA). The study quantitatively examined patient data collected over about 20 years (from 2000 to 2020) and included over 12,000 bladder cancer patients. Why specifically against this type of cancer? "This is a type of cancer that for the last 40 years has been treated quite boldly, as a first treatment, by flushing the catheter with theBCG the bladder This weakened bacterium activates the patients' immune system, so it fights the cancer cells better," the researcher explained. After removing patients who were already suspected of being affected by Alzheimer's or those whose type of bladder cancer did not match the control group, approximately 6,700 patients remained, 83% of whom were men.
The results of the study were exciting for the researchers. In all medical centers it was found that treatment with BCG is related for a significant reduction (with statistical significance) to the risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. The drastic improvement secrets In terms of population group, it was registered for those aged 75 and over (37%). In a group of about 1,000 patients treated at the Hadassah Medical Center, the improvement was even more impressive (58%). Most interesting of all is the fact that the optimal effect on degenerative diseases is also found to be valid for Parkinson's disease (with a trend of a 28% decrease in the risk of developing a disease in bladder cancer patients treated with (BCG-.
"The same vaccine that is a miracle to me, the BCG, has surprised the research world for the past 50 years - from time to time evidence has been published that it helps things that have nothing to do with tuberculosis. For example, in children who received the vaccine, there were fewer deaths from pneumonia in the first five years. What is the connection between pneumonia and tuberculosis? There is no connection. See, for example, that those children who received the vaccine have fewer warts. What is the connection between the vaccine and warts? Again, no connection. You see that those children suffered less from juvenile diabetes. These findings raised the thought that perhaps we, the researchers, could unwittingly uncover some kind of global protection of the immune system. We think that the vaccine apparently requires the immune system to 'be on guard better', and as a result fewer diseases manage to attack us. Why are Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases related to BCG? These diseases have a significant immune component," Prof. Lineal further explains.
It is worth noting that the study did not observe a beneficial effect of BCG in age-dependent diseases such as type 2 diabetes (T2D) or stroke. "These days in the world there are a number of clinical trials taking place to test the beneficial effect of BCG to test the effectiveness of the BCG vaccine as a potential shield to prevent or slow down diseases. Of course, any solution that will allow an improvement or slowing down of the development of diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in the populations at increased risk is of enormous medical, economic and social significance", concludes the researcher.
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