An Old TB Vaccine Might Help Stave Off Diabetes, Cancer Alzheimer’s, and More

Beyond protecting against various infections, researchers are starting to find that the BCG vaccine can also modulate the risk of other diseases in which the immune system goes awry, including type 1 diabetes, cancer, multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s disease. Claims about such broad-ranging effects have been controversial but have grown less so in recent years.

BCG also seems to diminish the risk of cancer. A 60-year follow-up of a clinical trial that began in 1935 among Native American and Alaska Native school-aged children showed that the group that had received BCG in childhood had not only a reduced risk of TB in the ensuing 60 years but also a 2.5-fold lower incidence of lung cancer at the end of the follow-up period.