Comparative studies of different strains of BCG vaccine in mice: T-cell dependent immune responses.

Three tests have been selected to demonstrate the close relationship between the innate immunogenicity and immunopotentiating capacity of different strains of BCG vaccines grown under the same conditions. The five strains of BCG which have been most extensively studied were PASTEUR, PHIPPS, TICE, CONNAUGHT and GLAXO. The first four are alike, they have similar growth characteristics and closely resemble each other, in immunological properties-lymphoproliferative response in vivo and T-cell potentiating effect-PASTEUR BCG being the strongest. GLAXO strain is different in these respects and is shown to have atypical properties.