{
  "abstract": "Bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) remains the only licensed tuberculosis (TB) vaccine, yet its protective efficacy against adult pulmonary TB is limited. To overcome this, we evaluated a novel recombinant Mycobacterium smegmatis (rMs) booster vaccine expressing Ag85B and ESAT-6 via the pMyong2 vector, combined with oat-derived {beta}-glucan adjuvant, to enhance BCG-primed immunity. BALB/c mice were primed with BCG and boosted twice with homologous BCG or varying doses of rMs with or without {beta}-glucan. Five weeks post-booster, mice were challenged intraperitoneally with M. tuberculosis H37Ra. Systemic bacterial clearance in liver tissue, cell-mediated immunity IFN-{gamma}, IL-17a, and antibody responses IgG, IgG2c, IgA were evaluated 3 weeks post-challenge. All rMs booster groups (rMs, high-dose rMs H, low-dose with {beta}-glucan, rMs {beta}) achieved complete systemic clearance of H37Ra with no detectable CFUs (colony forming unit), significantly outperforming mock-vaccinated and repeated BCG groups (**p < 0.01). Repeated BCG revaccination showed higher bacterial loads than single BCG (***p < 0.001), confirming no booster effect. Low-dose rMs with {beta}-glucan maintained 100% survival and total bacterial elimination despite a 50% dose reduction. Immune markers did not strictly correlate with clearance. Homologous BCG revaccination provides no additive protection, whereas pMyong2-based rMs confers robust systemic bacterial clearance. Adjuvanting with {beta}-glucan enables dose reduction while preserving maximum efficacy, establishing rMs as a promising heterologous TB booster candidate.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "CLIPS BnC"
  ],
  "article_type": "New results",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 8,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "H. Ji"
    },
    {
      "name": "K. Kang"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. Kim"
    },
    {
      "name": "Y. Kwon"
    },
    {
      "name": "H. Kang"
    },
    {
      "name": "U. Choi"
    },
    {
      "name": "J. Kang"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "G. CHOI"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ac8vdh3hfprx3.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.08.31.748203",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.31.748203v1.full",
  "id": "ac8vdh3hfprx3",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.31.748203v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "biorxiv",
      "immunology"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "2725|Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7208728058",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.31.748203v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-08-31",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ac8vdh3hfprx3.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:16Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.08.31.748203",
      "source": "biorxiv",
      "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.31.748203v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "biorxiv:immunology",
      "subfield": "immunology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Enhancing Mycobacterial Clearance via Heterologous BCG Prime Boost Strategy Using Recombinant Mycobacterium smegmatis",
  "title_text": "Enhancing Mycobacterial Clearance via Heterologous BCG Prime Boost Strategy Using Recombinant Mycobacterium smegmatis",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:16Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/ac8vdh3hfprx3",
  "venue": "bioRxiv",
  "versions": []
}