Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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Taurus
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Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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Today BBC wrote this
TB vaccine 'could help prevent MS'
An anti-tuberculosis vaccine could prevent multiple sclerosis, early research suggests.

and wiki says that it could even reduce MS lesions.
Any input please.
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lyndacarol
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Re: Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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The BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) vaccine is routinely given in the UK to school-age children. I have a friend who changed schools there often and received this vaccine four times. She now HAS MS (and has had bladder cancer, which I think is related to increased insulin as a result of the vaccine).

I do not think it will help with MS! Ultimately, it may make things worse.
My hypothesis: excess insulin (hyperinsulinemia) plays a major role in MS, as developed in my initial post: http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-discussion-f1/topic1878.html "Insulin – Could This Be the Key?"
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lyndacarol
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Re: Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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Posted today in General Discussion by frodo (http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... ml#p227057) on BCG vaccine: http://www.msdiscovery.org/news/new_fin ... rogression



Another General Discussion thread, "Tuberculosis Vaccine May Help Prevent Multiple Sclerosis???" on December 4, 2013: http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... CG#p218832



And earlier on September 9, 2012: http://www.thisisms.com/forum/post19785 ... an#p197853
I came across this interesting interview with Dr. Denise Faustman, Harvard researcher working on type I diabetes treatment. She mentions that Italian researchers are working on the same treatment for multiple sclerosis and that they are ahead. Do we have any members in Italy who have read of the BCG vaccine being used to manage TNF for MS?
Added 10/15/2012: I wonder if this (http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00202410), compliments of a post by mrbarlow, could be the work in Italy that Dr. Faustman references in the video, "New Hope against Diabetes."

Dear friends, you may find this short video interesting:

http://www.myfoxboston.com/story/192352 ... t-diabetes

With my concern about excess insulin, I admit that the "kickstart" to the pancreas' production of insulin mentioned in this Bloomberg article is worrisome: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-0 ... or-tb.html
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Re: Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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Update on positive results for BCG vaccine trials for type 1 diabetes.
June 22, 2018 Study: TB vaccine helps treat Type 1 diabetes
http://www.bostonherald.com/lifestyle/h ... 1_diabetes

Discussion about it's use for MS
Feb 2018
http://www.wheelchairkamikaze.com/2018/ ... op-ms.html
RRMS '95 SPMS '02 | CCSVI 10/09 | Adult stem cells 2012 | http://www.patientsforstemcells.org/
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Re: Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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Long-term reduction in hyperglycemia in advanced type 1 diabetes: the value of induced aerobic glycolysis with BCG vaccinations.
NPJ Vaccines. 2018 Jun 21;3:23.

Mycobacterium are among the oldest co-evolutionary partners of humans. The attenuated Mycobacterium bovis Bacillus Calmette Guérin (BCG) strain has been administered globally for 100 years as a vaccine against tuberculosis. BCG also shows promise as treatment for numerous inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Here, we report on a randomized 8-year long prospective examination of type 1 diabetic subjects with long-term disease who received two doses of the BCG vaccine. After year 3, BCG lowered hemoglobin A1c to near normal levels for the next 5 years. The BCG impact on blood sugars appeared to be driven by a novel systemic and blood sugar lowering mechanism in diabetes. We observe a systemic shift in glucose metabolism from oxidative phosphorylation to aerobic glycolysis, a state of high glucose utilization. Confirmation is gained by metabolomics, mRNAseq, and functional assays of cellular glucose uptake after BCG vaccinations. To prove BCG could induce a systemic change to promote accelerated glucose utilization and impact blood sugars, murine data demonstrated reduced blood sugars and aerobic induction in non-autoimmune mice made chemically diabetic. BCG via epigenetics also resets six central T-regulatory genes for genetic re-programming of tolerance. These findings set the stage for further testing of a known safe vaccine therapy for improved blood sugar control through changes in metabolism and durability with epigenetic changes even in advanced Type 1 diabetes.

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Re: Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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Here's an earlier paper on BCG...

Proof-of-concept, randomized, controlled clinical trial of Bacillus-Calmette-Guerin for treatment of long-term type 1 diabetes.
PLoS One. 2012;7(8):e41756.

BACKGROUND: No targeted immunotherapies reverse type 1 diabetes in humans. However, in a rodent model of type 1 diabetes, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) reverses disease by restoring insulin secretion. Specifically, it stimulates innate immunity by inducing the host to produce tumor necrosis factor (TNF), which, in turn, kills disease-causing autoimmune cells and restores pancreatic beta-cell function through regeneration.

METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Translating these findings to humans, we administered BCG, a generic vaccine, in a proof-of-principle, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of adults with long-term type 1 diabetes (mean: 15.3 years) at one clinical center in North America. Six subjects were randomly assigned to BCG or placebo and compared to self, healthy paired controls (n = 6) or reference subjects with (n = 57) or without (n = 16) type 1 diabetes, depending upon the outcome measure. We monitored weekly blood samples for 20 weeks for insulin-autoreactive T cells, regulatory T cells (Tregs), glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) and other autoantibodies, and C-peptide, a marker of insulin secretion. BCG-treated patients and one placebo-treated patient who, after enrollment, unexpectedly developed acute Epstein-Barr virus infection, a known TNF inducer, exclusively showed increases in dead insulin-autoreactive T cells and induction of Tregs. C-peptide levels (pmol/L) significantly rose transiently in two BCG-treated subjects (means: 3.49 pmol/L [95% CI 2.95-3.8], 2.57 [95% CI 1.65-3.49]) and the EBV-infected subject (3.16 [95% CI 2.54-3.69]) vs.1.65 [95% CI 1.55-3.2] in reference diabetic subjects. BCG-treated subjects each had more than 50% of their C-peptide values above the 95(th) percentile of the reference subjects. The EBV-infected subject had 18% of C-peptide values above this level.

CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We conclude that BCG treatment or EBV infection transiently modified the autoimmunity that underlies type 1 diabetes by stimulating the host innate immune response. This suggests that BCG or other stimulators of host innate immunity may have value in the treatment of long-term diabetes.

TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00607230.

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SammyJo
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Re: Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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Also, anyone know if this relates to another pathogen suspect for MS, the Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP)? I don't know how close MAP is to tuberculosis, which is the original target of the BCG vaccine.

Here is a review of the research done in Italy for MS in 2013-2014.

Vaccines in multiple sclerosis: The experience of BCG vaccination

Abstract
Despite earlier reports showing an onset of multiple sclerosis (MS) or the occurrence of relapses after vaccination, more recent large epidemiological studies did not find this association and confirmed the safety of common compulsory vaccinations in MS. Moreover, experimental and epidemiological evidence suggests benefit of exposure to microbial products (in the absence of infection, as is the case of vaccination) in MS. Along this line, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccine was tried in early MS and resulted safe and effective in reducing disease activity on magnetic resonance imaging, as well as the risk of developing persistent T1-hypointense lesions ("black holes" - expression of tissue damage). Another trial in people with clinically isolated syndromes demonstrated a benefit of BCG with respect to the conversion to clinically definite MS over 5 years. These results suggest the use of BCG immediately after disease onset. Even the possible extension to people at risk of MS might be envisioned, given that the approach is safe, inexpensive and convenient


Could not find further research since 2014. The stall out is explained in this article, lack of drug supply and lack of funding. Maybe the Type 1 diabetes trials will revive interest in other autoimmune applications.

Feb 2018 Wheelchair Kamikaze
Can A 100-Year-Old TB Vaccine Stop MS, Diabetes, and Other Diseases?
RRMS '95 SPMS '02 | CCSVI 10/09 | Adult stem cells 2012 | http://www.patientsforstemcells.org/
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Re: Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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Effects of Bacille Calmette-Guerin after the first demyelinating event in the CNS.
Neurology. 2014 Jan 7;82(1):41-8.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) effects after clinically isolated syndromes (CIS).

METHODS: In a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, participants were randomly assigned to receive BCG or placebo and monitored monthly with brain MRI (6 scans). Both groups then entered a preplanned phase with IM interferon-β-1a for 12 months. From month 18 onward, the patients took the disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) that their neurologist considered indicated in an open-label extension phase lasting up to 60 months.

RESULTS: Of 82 randomized subjects, 73 completed the study (33 vaccinated and 40 placebo). During the initial 6 months, the number of cumulative lesions was significantly lower in vaccinated people. The relative risks were 0.541 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.308-0.956; p = 0.03) for gadolinium-enhancing lesions (the primary endpoint), 0.364 (95% CI 0.207-0.639; p = 0.001) for new and enlarging T2-hyperintense lesions, and 0.149 (95% CI 0.046-0.416; p = 0.001) for new T1-hypointense lesions. The number of total T1-hypointense lesions was lower in the BCG group at months 6, 12, and 18: mean changes from baseline were -0.09 ± 0.72 vs 0.75 ± 1.81 (p = 0.01), 0.0 ± 0.83 vs 0.88 ± 2.21 (p = 0.08), and -0.21 ± 1.03 vs 1.00 ± 2.49 (p = 0.02). After 60 months, the cumulative probability of clinically definite multiple sclerosis was lower in the BCG + DMT arm (hazard ratio = 0.52, 95% CI 0.27-0.99; p < 0.05), and more vaccinated people remained DMT-free (odds ratio = 0.20, 95% CI 0.04-0.93; p = 0.04).

CONCLUSIONS: Early BCG may benefit CIS and affect its long-term course.

CLASSIFICATION OF EVIDENCE: BCG, as compared to placebo, was associated with significantly reduced development of gadolinium-enhancing lesions in people with CIS for a 6-month period before starting immunomodulating therapy (Class I evidence).

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Re: Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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Use of Bacille Calmette-Guèrin (BCG) in multiple sclerosis.
Neurology. 1999 Oct 22;53(7):1588-9.

We studied the effect of Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine as an immunomodulator in MS. According to the guidelines for clinical trials in MS, a single crossover, MRI-monitored trial was performed in 14 patients with relapsing-remitting MS. After treatment, MRI activity was significantly reduced. No major adverse effects were reported. Adjuvant therapy with BCG vaccine was safe and merits study in MS.
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Re: Has anybody tried BCG vaccine for MS?

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lyndacarol wrote:The BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin) vaccine is routinely given in the UK to school-age children. I have a friend who changed schools there often and received this vaccine four times. She now HAS MS (and has had bladder cancer, which I think is related to increased insulin as a result of the vaccine).

I do not think it will help with MS! Ultimately, it may make things worse.
Where I'm from BCG vaccine is mandatory and it is administered usually in the hospital when a baby is born around the 3rd or 4th day. I have this done and I have MS as well, a lot of other people as well. We have diabetes too. As far as I know it is generally not recommended to have it as a grown up. I don't get it how they will give the shot at every new school and not look at medical history? This is criminal negligent I'm my opinion. From a lot of articles I've seen BCG is seen as useless vaccine and they just might want to find another market for it.
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