TB vaccine may hold clue to retrain immune system against Alzheimer’s, study finds

New Delhi: A new study suggests that the BCG vaccine, used for decades to prevent tuberculosis, may also help retrain the immune system to fight Alzheimer’s disease.

Researchers found that BCG alters immune responses in the central nervous system. The findings point to a possible strategy for early intervention in Alzheimer’s.

As the immune system ages, it enters a state of chronic, low-grade inflammation called ‘inflammaging’. In the brain, inflammaging is especially damaging. Immune cells that normally clear toxic amyloid-beta — a protein that clumps together to form the plaques characteristic of Alzheimer’s — instead become dysfunctional. That dysfunction fuels the neuroinflammation that drives the disease.

Scientists say the BCG vaccine’s ability to shift immune function could offer a new way to target this process before symptoms appear.