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Mycobacterium bovis bacille Calmette Guerin vaccination protects against pulmonary tuberculosis in the United Kingdom but not in Malawi. We investigated whether a difference in the clonal T-cell response to BCG vaccination might account for this. The results of clonal analysis were compared to those obtained by skin testing and in a whole blood interferon gamma assay. Pre-vaccination antigen specific T-cell clones were detected, but the majority of clones present 12 months after vaccination were not present earlier. The magnitude of the clonal response did not correlate well with results of the other assays. These data indicate that single assays may not be reliable and that a stable memory T-cell repertoire is slow to develop.

Original publication

DOI

10.1016/j.vaccine.2005.12.011

Type

Journal article

Journal

Vaccine

Publication Date

24/03/2006

Volume

24

Pages

2617 - 2626

Keywords

Antibody Formation, Antigens, Bacterial, BCG Vaccine, Humans, Immunologic Memory, Interferon-gamma, Malawi, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, T-Lymphocytes, Tuberculin, Tuberculin Test, Tuberculosis, United Kingdom, Vaccination