BCG enables protection against malaria through adjuvanting an adenovirus-vectored vaccine

BCG, the vaccine used to protect against tuberculosis (TB), may also help the body fight malaria by boosting its general immune defences. We tested whether giving BCG together with a malaria vaccine could improve protection against malaria in mice.
Giving the two vaccines together triggered a broader and stronger early immune response. This helped the mice develop effective protection against malaria, which relied on an important type of immune cell called a CD8+ T cell.
Our findings suggest that combining BCG with this type of malaria vaccine could offer a promising way to improve protection in regions where both TB and malaria are common