Mycobacterium tuberculosis PPD-induced immune biomarkers measurable in vitro following BCG vaccination of UK adolescents by multiplex bead array and intracellular cytokine staining

Abstract

The broad array of biomarker responses detected by multiplex bead array suggests that BCG vaccination is capable, in this setting, of inducing a complex immune phenotype. Although polyfunctional T-cells have been proposed to play a role in protective immunity, they were not present in vaccinated adolescents who, based on earlier epidemiological studies, should have developed protection against pulmonary tuberculosis. This may be due to the later sampling time point available for testing or on the kinetics of the assays used.