一種有100年歷史的結(jié)核病疫苗如何幫助對抗新型冠狀病毒

一種有100年歷史的結(jié)核病疫苗如何幫助對抗新型冠狀病毒

As researchers scramble to find new drugs and vaccines for Covid-19. a vaccine that is more than a century old has piqued researchers' interests. The Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine -- which was first developed to fight off tuberculosis -- is being studied in clinical trials around the world as a way to fight the novel coronavirus.

在研究人員爭相尋找針對Covid-19的新藥和疫苗之際，一種已有一個多世紀(jì)歷史的疫苗引起了研究人員的興趣?？ń槊缱畛跏菫榱丝箵艚Y(jié)核病而研發(fā)的，目前正在世界各地進(jìn)行臨床試驗(yàn)，作為對抗新型冠狀病毒的一種方式。

Tuberculosis and Covid-19 infection are two very different diseases -- TB is caused by a type of bacteria while Covid-19 is caused by a virus, for starters. But the BCG vaccine might help people build immune responses to things other than TB, causing "off-target effects," according to Dr. Denise Faustman, director of immunobiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

結(jié)核病和Covid-19感染是兩種非常不同的疾病，首先，結(jié)核病是由一種細(xì)菌引起的，而Covid-19是由一種病毒引起的。但是，據(jù)馬薩諸塞州總醫(yī)院免疫生物學(xué)主任、哈佛醫(yī)學(xué)院副教授丹尼斯·福斯特曼博士說，卡介苗可能有助于人們對結(jié)核以外的疾病建立免疫反應(yīng)，造成“脫靶效應(yīng)”。

"In other words, in clinical trial format, people started picking up positive benefit from getting the vaccine that had nothing to do with tuberculosis," she said. Faustman has studied how the BCG vaccine affects people with Type 1 diabetes for many years. She is interested in how its off-target effects change the immune system in beneficial ways for people with autoimmune diseases such as Type 1 diabetes.

“換句話說，在臨床試驗(yàn)中，人們開始從接種與結(jié)核病無關(guān)的疫苗中獲得積極的益處，”她說。福斯特曼多年來一直在研究卡介苗對1型糖尿病患者的影響。她感興趣的是它的脫靶效應(yīng)如何以有益的方式改變免疫系統(tǒng)，以治療自身免疫性疾病，如1型糖尿病。

Though the exact mechanism for these off-target effects of the BCG vaccine isn't clear, it's believed that the vaccine can cause a nonspecific boost of the immune response.

盡管卡介苗產(chǎn)生這些脫靶效應(yīng)的確切機(jī)制尚不清楚，但人們相信這種疫苗可以引起非特異性的免疫反應(yīng)。

There is currently no vaccine or treatments approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for the novel coronavirus. While hopeful that the BCG vaccine will prove to be effective against Covid-19 -- as with any of the treatments and vaccines under development -- Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at the Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, admits the concept is a bit unconventional.

目前，美國食品和藥物管理局還沒有批準(zhǔn)針對這種新型冠狀病毒的疫苗或治療方法。盡管卡介苗有望被證明對Covid-19有效，就像任何正在研發(fā)的治療方法和疫苗一樣，范德比爾特大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)院傳染病專家威廉·沙夫納博士承認(rèn)，這個概念有點(diǎn)不合常規(guī)。

"It's such an outside-the-box concept that one would like to be optimistic, but we'll have to wait and see." Schaffner said.

沙夫納說: “這是一個如此創(chuàng)新的概念，人們會感到樂觀，但我們必須拭目以待。” 沙夫納說。

Several countries around the world are beginning human clinical trials to evaluate the BCG vaccine's efficacy, such as Australia and the Netherlands.

世界上有幾個國家正在開展人體臨床試驗(yàn)，以評估卡介苗的療效，如澳大利亞和荷蘭。

Faustman and her colleagues are preparing for trials in Boston, which are currently under a multistep review process. Once approved, she and her team members hope to enroll about 4.000 health care workers into the trial.

福斯特曼和她的同事正準(zhǔn)備在波士頓進(jìn)行試驗(yàn)，目前正在進(jìn)行多步驟審查。一旦獲得批準(zhǔn)，她和她的團(tuán)隊(duì)成員希望能招收大約4000名醫(yī)護(hù)人員參加試驗(yàn)。

The vaccine has been available for more than 100 years and has proved to be relatively safe, Faustman said.

福斯特曼說，這種疫苗已有100多年的歷史，并已被證明是相對安全的。

"BCG is heralded by the World Health Organization as the safest vaccine ever developed in the world," she said. "Greater than 3 billion people have gotten it."

她說:“世界衛(wèi)生組織將卡介苗譽(yù)為世界上有史以來最安全的疫苗。”“已經(jīng)有超過30億人接種了它。”

Researchers have attempted to look at whether these countries with regular BCG vaccine administration have lower rates of Covid-19-related mortality. One study by researchers in New York found an association between universal BCG vaccination policies in countries and reduced morbidity and mortality for Covid-19. The study has not been peer-reviewed or published in a medical journal.

研究人員試圖觀察這些定期接種卡介苗的國家是否具有較低的Covid -19相關(guān)死亡率。紐約研究人員的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，各國普遍接種卡介苗政策與降低Covid-19的發(fā)病率和死亡率之間存在關(guān)聯(lián)。這項(xiàng)研究沒有經(jīng)過同行評審，也沒有發(fā)表在醫(yī)學(xué)雜志上。