Journal of Infectious Diseases
Volume 203 Issue 12 June 15, 2011
http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/toc/jid/current

EDITORIAL COMMENTARIES
Hazel M. Dockrell
Editor’s Choice: Another Step Down the Development Pipeline for the Novel Tuberculosis Vaccine MVA-85A
J Infect Dis. (2011) 203(12): 1708-1709 doi:10.1093/infdis/jir200

The “Dose-Finding Study of the Novel Vaccine, MVA85A, in Healthy Bacille Calmette-Guérin [BCG]–Vaccinated Infants” by Scriba et al [ 1] in this issue of the Journal takes the development of this new vaccine candidate for tuberculosis a further step down its development pipeline. There are many new tuberculosis vaccines at different stages of development [ 2], but this vaccine is the first to be tested in children and infants. It has previously been shown to be both safe and immunogenic in South African children aged 2–7 years [ 3], and to move it into trials in younger children is an essential next step in its development. The infant immune system is immature [ 4, 5], with a bias towards Th2 cell polarization and low cytokine production, compared with that in adults [ 6]. Nevertheless, if BCG vaccine is administered shortly after birth, it induces strong Th1 cell responses, although the magnitude and quality of these can vary in different settings [ 7– 9]. What is clear from the study by Scriba and colleagues is that BCG at birth induces responses to Ag85A that can be boosted by administration of MVA85A at 5–12 months of age. Boosting with MVA85A also induced …

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