I came across this post in Scientific American written by Viviane Callier entitled An Old TB Vaccine Might Help Stave Off Diabetes, Cancer Alzheimer’s, and More.
The author noted that there is evidence suggesting that the BCG vaccine, originally invented for tuberculosis, might enhance the immune system in a non-specific way. Right now, researchers are working to see how these non-specific effects could be harnessed to treat different diseases such as diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's, and more. There are a bunch of interesting references in the article if you are interested, my more sciency friends! Here is the link.
The story also highlights that the BCG vaccine is off-patent, thus there hasn't been much interest from pharma companies in attempting the necessary large clinical trials. A somewhat worrying concern given the gravity of health issues associated with diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer's. Science could be getting closer to alleviating these conditions if we understood BCG vaccine better.
There is certainly a need to delve into this area of work even more.
Overall, it is an interesting story for me since I teach research methods to graduate students this semester. This would be a good starting point in class to discuss the purpose of research, incremental knowledge creation, funding, and lots more.
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