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Harnessing the beneficial heterologous effects of vaccination

Nature Reviews Immunology volume 16, pages 392–400 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Clinical evidence strongly suggests that certain live vaccines, in particular bacille Calmette–Guérin (BCG) and measles vaccines, can reduce all-cause mortality, most probably through protection against non-targeted pathogens in addition to the targeted pathogen. The underlying mechanisms are currently unknown. We discuss how heterologous lymphocyte activation and innate immune memory could promote protection beyond the intended target pathogen and consider how vaccinologists could leverage heterologous immunity to improve outcomes in vulnerable populations, in particular the very young and the elderly.

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Figure 1: Heterologous lymphocyte responses.
Figure 2: Mechanisms of innate memory in monocytes and macrophages.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funding from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Infant Immunity Program (RO1 5R01AI100135-03 to O.L.), the European Research Council (Consolidator Grant 310372 to M.G.N.), the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research (Career Investigator Award to T.R.K.), the Canadian Institute of Health Research (300819 to T.R.K.), the British Columbia Children's Hospital Foundation (to T.R.K.), and the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre (to A.J.P.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Helen S. Goodridge is at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90048, USA.,

    Helen S. Goodridge

  2. S. Sohail Ahmed is at Immunology, Inflammation, and Infectious Diseases (Disease and Therapeutic Area), Roche Pharma Research & Early Development, F. Hoffmann–La Roche Ltd, Basel 4070, Switzerland.,

    S. Sohail Ahmed

  3. Nigel Curtis is at the Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne; and Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville 3052, Australia.,

    Nigel Curtis

  4. and Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, Parkville 3052, Australia.,

    Nigel Curtis

  5. Tobias R. Kollmann is at the Division of Infectious Disease, Department of Paediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia V5Z4H4, Canada.,

    Tobias R. Kollmann

  6. Division of Infectious Diseases, Ofer Levy is in the Precision Vaccines Program, Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.,

    Ofer Levy

  7. Mihai G. Netea and Reinout van Crevel are at the Department of Internal Medicine and Radboud Center for Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Center, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.,

    Mihai G. Netea & Reinout van Crevel

  8. Department of Paediatrics, Andrew J. Pollard is in the Oxford Vaccine Group, University of Oxford; and at the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine (CCVTM), Churchill Hospital, Oxford OX3 7LJ, UK.,

    Andrew J. Pollard

  9. and at the NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine (CCVTM), Churchill Hospital, Oxford OX3 7LJ, UK.,

    Andrew J. Pollard

  10. Christopher B. Wilson is in the Global Health Program, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Seattle, Washington 98105, USA.,

    Christopher B. Wilson

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  1. Helen S. Goodridge
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  2. S. Sohail Ahmed
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Correspondence to Helen S. Goodridge.

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Goodridge, H., Ahmed, S., Curtis, N. et al. Harnessing the beneficial heterologous effects of vaccination. Nat Rev Immunol 16, 392–400 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nri.2016.43

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