Mechanism of pertussis toxin B oligomer-mediated protection against Bordetella pertussis respiratory infection.

Immunization with the B oligomer of pertussis toxin protected neonatal mice from a lethal respiratory challenge with Bordetella pertussis. All mice immunized with 8 micrograms of B oligomer survived aerosol challenge and had peripheral leukocyte counts and weight gains similar to those of mice immunized with pertussis toxoid before challenge and to those of control mice that were not challenged. Unprotected mice challenged with an aerosol of B. pertussis had an increase in peripheral leukocyte count, failed to gain weight, and died within 21 days of challenge. Protection appeared to be dose dependent, since a dose of 1 microgram of B oligomer per mouse prevented death in 100% of the mice challenged with B. pertussis, whereas 0.4 micrograms of B oligomer protected 50% of the challenged mice. Mice immunized with the B oligomer had increases in immunoglobulin G (IgG) anti-B oligomer in sera and in IgG and IgA anti-B oligomer in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids 1 to 3 weeks after respiratory challenge. Specific anti-B oligomer antibodies could not be detected in unimmunized, infected mice at the same time after challenge. Intravenous administration of the monoclonal antibody 170C4, which binds to the S3 subunit of the B oligomer, protected neonatal mice from B. pertussis respiratory challenge, while administration of an IgG1 anti-tetanus toxin monoclonal antibody, 18.1.7, was not protective. We conclude that anti-B-oligomer-mediated neutralization of pertussis toxin is one mechanism of protection in the mouse model of B. pertussis aerosol challenge.     

Purification and characterization of fimbriae isolated from Bordetella pertussis.

Fimbriae were detached from Bordetella pertussis by mechanical shearing and purified by successive precipitations with ammonium sulfate, phosphate buffer (pH 6.0), and magnesium chloride. In each of these purification steps, the fimbriae aggregated into bundles as seen by electron microscopy. These aggregates could be disaggregated at pH 9.5. By electron microscopy, the purified fimbriae appeared as long filaments with a diameter of 5 nm. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the purified fimbriae showed a single protein subunit with a molecular weight of 22,000. The purified fimbriae did not have hemagglutinating activity when assayed with several types of erythrocytes, and they were antigenically, chemically, and structurally distinct from the filamentous hemagglutinin of B. pertussis. The purified fimbriae were also identified as serotype 2 agglutinogens, since antibody to the purified fimbriae agglutinated B. pertussis strains serotyped as 1.2.4, 1.2.3, or 1.2.3.6 but did not agglutinate those serotyped as 1.3.6.     

Aerosol infection of mice with Bordetella pertussis

Aerosol inhalation of Bordetella pertussis Tohama phase I resulted in a reproducible and uniform infection of mice (strain DDY or ICR). Mice in groups of 10 exposed for 30 min to aerosols generated from bacterial suspensions of 10(9) and 10(10) organisms per ml resulted in mean bacterial counts of 2.3 (+/- 0.3) X 10(4) and 1.0 (+/- 0.3) X 10(5) colony-forming units, respectively, in the lung of each animal. Subsequent studies using a 30-min aerosol inoculation of ICR mice with 2 X 10(9) bacterial cells per ml showed: (i) B. pertussis cells reached a maximum of about 10(7) colony-forming units per lung 14 days after inhalation. (ii) Deaths (10 to 100%, depending on mouse age) occurred 10 to 14 days after exposure. (iii) The lung weight and the leukocyte count increased from basal values of 100 mg and 10(4) leukocytes per mm3 to a plateau of 950 mg and 1.95 X 10(5) leukocytes per mm3, respectively, 14 days after challenge. (iv) There was a significantly reduced rate of body weight gain by infected mice compared to noninfected mice. (v) With mortality as the criterion for disease, susceptibility varied with the age of mice as follows: 10 days old greater than 18 greater than 28 greater than 49. (vi) Bacteria were associated with ciliated respiratory epithelial cells by scanning electron microscopy.     

Association between Bordetella pertussis agglutinogen 2 and fimbriae

Fimbriae have been demonstrated on strains of Bordetella pertussis that possess agglutinogen 2 (types 1, 2, 3 and 1, 2), but not on those that lack it (types 1,3 and 1). This correlation between fimbriation and the presence of agglutinogen 2 has been found with fresh isolates from children and with laboratory strains that are virulent for mice. If fimbriae enhance the attachment of bacteria to mucosal cells, these findings offer an explanation for the predominance of serotypes 1,2,3 and 1,2 in non-vaccinated communities. The findings also suggest that agglutinogen 3 is not a fimbrial antigen, and because this is an essential component of fully effective whole-cell vaccine, a subcellular vaccine prepared from fimbriae alone may be inadequate.     

A bactericidal monoclonal antibody specific for the lipooligosaccharide of Bordetella pertussis reduces colonization of the respiratory tract of mice after aerosol infection with B. pertussis.

A mouse immunoglobulin G3 monoclonal antibody specific for the core oligosaccharide moiety of the lipooligosaccharide (LOS) of Bordetella pertussis has been shown to have complement-dependent bactericidal activity. This monoclonal antibody exhibits bactericidal activity against strains of B. pertussis that express the LOS A phenotype. In addition this monoclonal antibody was effective in reducing colonization by B. pertussis in both the lungs and tracheas of mice after aerosol infection.     

Mucosal immunization with filamentous hemagglutinin protects against Bordetella pertussis respiratory infection.

Mucosal immunization of mice with purified Bordetella pertussis filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA), by either the respiratory or the gut route, was found to protect against B. pertussis infection of the trachea and lungs. Intranasal immunization of BALB/c and (C57BL/6 x C3H/HeN)F1 adult female mice with FHA prior to B. pertussis aerosol challenge resulted in a 2 to 3 log reduction in number of bacteria recovered from the lungs and the tracheas of immunized mice in comparison to unimmunized controls. Intraduodenal immunization of adult mice with FHA before infection also resulted in approximately a 2 log reduction in the recovery of bacteria from the lungs and the tracheas of immunized mice in comparison to unimmunized controls. Immunoglobulin A and immunoglobulin G anti-FHA were both detected in bronchoalveolar lavage fluids of mucosally immunized mice. Limiting dilution analysis revealed a 60-fold increase in the frequency of FHA-specific B cells isolated from the lungs of mice immunized intranasally with FHA in comparison to unimmunized control mice. These data suggest that both gut and respiratory mucosal immunization with a major adhesin of B. pertussis generates a specific immune response in the respiratory tract that may serve as one means of mitigating subsequent B. pertussis respiratory infection.     

Development of a rat model for respiratory infection with Bordetella pertussis.

Considerable effort directed toward designing a safe and effective vaccine for Bordetella pertussis in which the cellular and/or acellular antigens necessary to confer immunity are known has been hampered by lack of information on the pathogenesis of the natural infection. The study presented here describes an animal model of lung infection by B. pertussis encased in agar beads in adult (200- to 220-g) male Sprague-Dawley rats. At 3 and 7 days after inoculation with phase I B. pertussis, organisms could be recovered from the lungs of rats; however, organisms were not recoverable at days 10 and 14 but reappeared in lung homogenates at day 21. Histopathological examination revealed findings similar to those seen in human disease. At day 3, a mild lymphocytic infiltrate was present in the bronchi, with progressive lymphoid hyperplasia peribronchially. By day 7, a necrotizing inflammation of the tracheobronchial mucous membranes, characterized by both mononuclear and polymorphonuclear cells, was noted. Phase III B. pertussis organisms were not recoverable from the lungs of inoculated rats at day 3 after inoculation, nor were histological changes noted in these animals. Clinical findings in phase I B. pertussis-infected rats included hypoglycemia, circulating lymphocytosis, and paroxysms in which air was forcibly expelled from the mouth or nose.     

Effective immunization against Bordetella pertussis respiratory infection in mice is dependent on induction of cell-mediated immunity.

A murine respiratory challenge model was used to examine the induction of cellular and humoral immune responses and their role in protection against Bordetella pertussis following immunization or previous infection. Spleen cells from mice convalescing from a B. pertussis infection exhibited extensive in vitro T-cell proliferation and secreted high levels of interleukin-2 (IL-2) and gamma interferon but not IL-4 or IL-5, a cytokine profile typical of CD4+ Th1 cells. Serum from these mice had low or undetectable anti-B. pertussis antibody levels. In contrast, mice immunized with an acellular pertussis vaccine had high levels of B. pertussis antibodies and spleen cells secreting IL-5 but not gamma interferon, a profile characteristic of CD4+ Th2 cells. Immunization with an inactivated whole-cell vaccine induced both CD4+ Th1 and serum antibody responses. After exposure to a B. pertussis respiratory challenge, the convalescent mice and those immunized with the whole-cell vaccine eliminated the bacterial infection significantly faster than mice immunized with the acellular vaccine. These findings show that the selection of antigens and their form of presentation are important in determining whether the subsequent immune response is cellular, mediated by Th1 cells, or humoral, mediated by Th2 cells. In the murine model, the induction of a Th1-mediated cellular immune response appears to be a key element in acquired immunity to a B. pertussis infection.     

Purification and characterization of serotype 6 fimbriae from Bordetella pertussis and comparison of their properties with serotype 2 fimbriae.

Fimbriae were removed from Bordetella pertussis (serotype 1.3.6) by mechanical shearing and purified by precipitation with ammonium sulfate, pH-dependent precipitation at pH 7.4, followed by two successive extractions of the precipitated fimbriae with 4 M urea. By electron microscopy, the precipitated fimbriae appeared as aggregated bundles of long, relatively straight filaments which were disaggregated to individual flexuous filaments at pH 10.5. These purified fimbriae were identified as serotype 6 agglutinogens, since antibody to the purified fimbriae agglutinated B. pertussis strains serotyped as 1.3.6, 1.2.3.6, or 1.2.3.4.6 but did not agglutinate strains of serotype 1.2.3.4, 1.2.3, or 1.3. In contrast, antibody to serotype 2 fimbriae only agglutinated B. pertussis strains containing serotype 2 agglutinogen. Purified type 6 and 2 fimbriae were found to be weakly cross-reactive by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, using polyclonal antibody to each type of fimbria. In an immunoblot assay, polyclonal antibodies to a 22,000-dalton subunit of fimbriae from B. bronchiseptica reacted strongly with the type 2 fimbrial subunit of B. pertussis, but only weakly with the type 6 subunit. When subjected to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, the protein subunit of the type 6 fimbriae migrated with a molecular weight of 21,500, whereas the type 2 fimbrial subunit had a molecular weight of 22,000. The two types of subunits had similar amino acid compositions and showed amino-terminal sequence homology in 15 of 21 amino acids. The amino-terminal amino acid sequences of the B. pertussis fimbriae were distinct from those reported for fimbriae from other gram-negative bacteria. Neither the type 6 nor the type 2 fimbriae caused hemagglutination when assayed with several types of erythrocytes.     

Resistance to adenovirus infection after administration of Bordetella pertussis vaccine in mice.

Treatment of mice with Bordetella pertussis vaccine rendered mice resistant to mouse adenovirus infection. The resistant state took at least 5 days to develop, and susceptibility returned to a portion of the test population 35 days after treatment. Transient resistance developed in congenitally athymic mice also. Treatment with a dose of 25 micrograms (dry weight) of B. pertussis vaccine protected approximately 50% of the test population. Vaccines prepared from several different strains of B. pertussis were capable of inducing resistance, and the induction of resistance was not dependent on the mouse strain used for testing. Cross-reacting antibodies capable of neutralizing the virus or protecting against a challenging infection were not induced by treatment with B. pertussis vaccine.     

Acute Bordetella pertussis infection in an adult.

Bordetella pertussis was transmitted from an immunized boy to his father and possibly to other family members. This case report demonstrates that although unusual, acute adult B. pertussis infection can occur. B. pertussis immunization may not prevent infection but can reduce the severity. B. pertussis was detected in sputum from the adult by direct-fluorescent antibody staining and was grown on Regan-Lowe medium. Serology tests confirmed the infection in the adult.     

Reciprocal protective immunity against Bordetella pertussis and Bordetella parapertussis in a murine model of respiratory infection

The protective immunity induced by infection with Bordetella pertussis and with Bordetella parapertussis was examined in a murine model of respiratory infection. Convalescent mice that had been infected by aerosol with B. pertussis or with B. parapertussis exhibited a protective immune response against B. pertussis and also against B. parapertussis. Anti-filamentous hemagglutinin (anti-FHA) serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) and anti-FHA lung IgA antibodies were detected in both mice infected with B. pertussis and those infected with B. parapertussis. Antibodies against pertussis toxin (anti-PT) and against killed B. pertussis cells were detected in mice infected with B. pertussis. Pertactin-specific antibodies and antibodies against killed B. parapertussis cells were detected in mice infected with B. parapertussis. Spleen cells from mice infected with B. pertussis secreted interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) in response to stimulation by FHA or PT. Spleen cells from mice infected with B. parapertussis also secreted IFN-gamma in response to FHA. Interleukin-4 was not produced in response to any of the antigens tested. The profiles of cytokine secretion in vitro revealed induction of a Th1-biased immune response during convalescence from infection by B. pertussis and by B. parapertussis. It is possible that Th1 and Th2 responses against FHA might be related to the reciprocal protection achieved in our murine model.     

Effects of Bordetella pertussis infection on human respiratory epithelium in vivo and in vitro.

Bordetella pertussis infection probably involves attachment to and destruction of ciliated epithelial cells, but most previous studies have used animal tissue. During an epidemic, nasal epithelial biopsy specimens of 15 children (aged 1 month to 3 1/2 years) with whooping cough were examined for ciliary beat frequency, percent ciliation of the epithelium, and ciliary and epithelial cell ultrastructure. In addition, the in vitro effects of filtrates from a 24-h broth culture and of tracheal cytotoxin derived from B. pertussis on human nasal tissue organ culture were measured. B. pertussis was cultured from nasal swabs from 12 children. The mean ciliary beat frequency of their nasal biopsy specimens, 11.3 Hz (range, 10.4 to 13.0 Hz) was similar to that found in biopsy specimens from 10 normal children (mean, 12.5 Hz; range, 11.8 to 13.5 Hz). The abnormalities of the epithelium observed in 14 of 15 patients were a reduction in the number of ciliated cells, an increase in the number of cells with sparse ciliation, an increase in the number of dead cells, and extrusion of cells from the epithelial surface. In vitro, neither culture filtrate nor tracheal cytotoxin had any acute effect on ciliary function, but culture filtrate and tracheal cytotoxin (1 and 5 microM, respectively) caused extrusion of cells from the epithelial surface of turbinate tissue, loss of ciliated cells, an increased frequency of sparsely ciliated cells, and toxic changes in some cells. These changes were dose dependent and progressive, and between 36 and 90 h ciliary beating ceased. The observations made with patient tissue confirm that B. pertussis infection damages ciliated epithelium, and the in vitro experiments suggest that tracheal cytotoxin may be responsible for the abnormalities observed in vivo.     

Immunity to the respiratory pathogen Bordetella pertussis

Bordetella pertussis causes whooping cough, a severe respiratory tract infection in infants and children, and also infects adults. Studies in murine models have shown that innate immune mechanisms involving dendritic cells, macrophages, neutrophils, natural killer cells, and antimicrobial peptides help to control the infection, while complete bacterial clearance requires cellular immunity mediated by T-helper type 1 (Th1) and Th17 cells. Whole cell pertussis vaccines (wP) are effective, but reactogenic, and have been replaced in most developed countries by acellular pertussis vaccines (aP). However, the incidence of pertussis is still high in many vaccinated populations; this may reflect sub-optimal, waning, or escape from immunity induced by current aP. Protective immunity generated by wP appears to be mediated largely by Th1 cells, whereas less efficacious alum-adjuvanted aP induce strong antibody Th2 and Th17 responses. New generation aP that induce Th1 rather than Th2 responses are required to improve vaccine efficacy and prevent further spread of B. pertussis.     

Construction and analysis of Bordetella pertussis mutants defective in the production of fimbriae.

Although the role of fimbriae in bacterial disease has been well established, little is known about the function of Bordetella pertussis fimbriae. To study this function, well-defined fimbrial mutants were constructed. B. pertussis harbours three fimbrial genes, fim2, fim3 and fimX, and strains were constructed in which one or more fimbrial genes were inactivated by means of gene replacement. Analysis of these strains by means of immunoblotting suggested the presence of a fourth fimbrial gene, tentatively designated fimY. A fimbrial mutant was analysed in a mouse respiratory infection model, together with a strain harbouring a deletion in the gene for the filamentous haemagglutinin. Both mutants were affected in their ability to persist in the trachea. Persistence in the nasopharynx was only affected by the mutation in the filamentous haemagglutinin gene. Neither the filamentous haemagglutinin nor the fimbrial mutants were affected in their ability to persist in the lung. Our results suggest that the filamentous haemagglutinin plays a more crucial role than fimbriae in the colonization of the upper respiratory tract of the mouse.     

Monoclonal antibodies protect against respiratory syncytial virus infection in mice.

Twenty-five monoclonal antibodies (Mab) to respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and two to hepatitis B virus were inoculated intravenously into mice. Twenty-four hours later the mice were challenged intranasally with RSV. Eleven of 14 Mab against fusion protein and four out of six Mab against a larger glycoprotein (GP84) significantly reduced the titre of RSV in the lungs when mice were killed 5 days later. Five Mab against three other RSV proteins and two Mab against hepatitis B virus had no significant effect on RSV infection. These results indicated that serum IgG against one epitope on the fusion protein and another on the larger glycoprotein (GP84) will completely protect mice against challenge. These epitopes are primary candidates for an RSV vaccine produced by techniques of gene cloning and peptide synthesis.