The effect of BCG vaccination on systemic inflammation in neonates
This sub-study suggests that BCG vaccination could temporally reduce systemic inflammation in neonates, with the strongest effect observed in girls, who had the highest baseline levels. These findings seemingly replicate observations in adults, showing that BCG has a pronounced inflammation-dampening effect in those with higher pre-vaccination levels. The results further show that BCG vaccination could alter circulating inflammatory proteins in a time-dependent manner and potentially modulate the associations between inflammatory markers and immune function. These insights highlight the importance of sex-specific immune modulation by BCG in early life and underscore the value of personalised vaccination strategies that considers both timing and sex differences in immune responses.
Authors
- Thomas Nørrelykke Nissen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8565-9629)
- Valerie A. C. M. Koeken (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5783-9013)
- Reinout van Crevel
- Christine Stabell Benn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6102-3810)
- Vinod Kumar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5107-1616)
- Nina Marie Birk (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6806-0910)
- Peter Aaby
- Yang Li
- Mihai G. Netea
- Collins K. Boahen
Institutions
- Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)
- University of Southern Denmark (DK)
- Odense University Hospital (DK)
- Hvidovre Hospital (DK)
- Copenhagen University Hospital (DK)
- Radboud University Medical Center (NL)
- Radboud Institute for Molecular Life Sciences (NL)
- Centre for Individualised Infection Medicine (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Vaccine
- Published
- 2026-01-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2026.128241
- Primary Topic
- Immune responses and vaccinations
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Research Foundation
- Danmarks Grundforskningsfond