The immune response of the Chacma baboon to Bacille Calmette Guerin: development of a primate model for BCG-based vaccine research

Mycobacterium bovis Bacilli Calmette-Guerin (BCG) is used increasingly as an efficient vector for expression of recombinant proteins to induce a strong cell-mediated immunity. Here, we tested the immune response of Chacma baboons to the Tokyo and Pasteur strains of BCG in order to obtain base-line information on the response of this primate to BCG. While a humoral immune response to BCG was detected only in some vaccinated baboons, a cellular immune response characterized by a PPD-specific delayed hypersensitivity response and BCG-specific IFN-γ production from PBMC was a consistent finding. These responses were long-lived and could be detected beyond a year after a booster inoculation at 20 weeks. The results thus suggest that the Chacma baboon may be used as a non-human primate for the evaluation of recombinant BCG vaccines.