Pertussis is a highly contagious respiratory disease that is especially dangerous for infants and children. Despite mass vaccination, reported pertussis cases have increased in the United States and other parts of the world, probably because of increased awareness, improved diagnostic means, and waning vaccine-induced immunity among adolescents and adults. Licensed vaccines do not kill the orga...

Bordetella pertussis is the causative agent of pertussis, aka whooping cough. Although generally considered an extracellular pathogen, this bacterium has been found inside respiratory epithelial cells, which might represent a survival strategy inside the host. Relatively little is known, however, about the mechanism of internalization and the fate of B. pertussis inside the epithelia. We show h...

IL-6, a pleiotropic cytokine primarily produced by the innate immune system, has been implicated in the development of acquired immune responses, though its roles are largely undefined and may vary in the context of different diseases. Using a murine model of infection, we established that IL-6 influences the adaptive immune responses against the endemic human respiratory pathogen Bordetella pe...

BACKGROUND As has occurred in many regions worldwide, in 2012 the incidence of pertussis increased in Perú. This epidemiologic situation has been associated with a waning vaccine-induced immunity and the adaptation of Bordetella pertussis to vaccine-induced immunity along with improved diagnostic methods. METHODS The study comprised a total of 840 pertussis-suspected cases reported in Perú du...

Intranasal administration of live attenuated Bordetella pertussis, from which the pertussis toxin gene has been deleted, has previously been shown to give rise to high levels of serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against both the protective antigen filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) and heterologous antigens genetically fused to FHA. Here, we extend these results by demonstrating that anti-FH...

The adenylate cyclase toxin (ACT) of Bordetella pertussis intoxicates target cells by generating supraphysiologic levels of intracellular cyclic AMP (cAMP). Since ACT kills macrophages rapidly and potently, we asked whether ACT would also kill neutrophils. In fact, ACT prolongs the neutrophil life span by inhibiting constitutive apoptosis and preventing apoptosis induced by exposure to live B. ...

Administration of Bordetella pertussis cell extracts induced in mice hypersensitivity to histamine, as well as pronounced leukocytosis and hypoglycemia. The leukocytosis was mainly caused by an increase in the small lymphocytes in the circulating blood, and it was most pronounced 3 to 4 days after injection of B. pertussis extracts. Rabbit antimouse lymphocyte serum produced a decrease in the l...

The mechanism whereby whole-cell pertussis vaccines (WCV) confer protection against Bordetella pertussis is still not fully understood. We have previously reported that macrophage activation produced by vaccination with WCV is associated with induction of NO synthesis by macrophages in response to in vitro stimulation with B. pertussis antigens. To determine whether NO production is an effector...

P.69 pertactin (P.69 Prn), an adhesion molecule from the causative agent of pertussis, Bordetella pertussis, is present in cellular and most acellular vaccines that are currently used worldwide. Although both humoral immunity and cellular immunity directed against P.69 Prn have been implicated in protective immune mechanisms, the identities of CD4(+) T-cell epitopes on the P.69 Prn protein rema...

Bordetella pertussis causes whooping cough, an endemic respiratory disease that is increasing in prevalence despite vaccination efforts. Although host immunity is modulated by virulence factors of this pathogen, it is unclear what host factors are required to overcome their effects. Here, we investigate an apparent relationship between the effects of pertussis toxin and tumor necrosis factor (T...