A recombinant iron transport protein from Bordetella pertussis confers protection against Bordetella parapertussis

ABSTRACT Whooping cough is a reemerging disease caused by Bordetella parapertussis and B. parapertussis. New protective antigens are needed to improve the efficacy of current vaccines against both species. Using proteomic tools we here found that B. parapertussis expresses a homolog of AfuA, a previously reported new vaccine candidate against B. pertussis. We found that this homolog, named as AfuABpp, is expressed during B. parapertussis infection, exposed on the surface of the bacteria and recognized by specific antibodies induced by the recombinant AfuA cloned from B. pertussis (rAfuA). Importantly, the presence of the O–antigen, a molecule that was found to shield surface antigens on B. parapertussis, showed no influence on antibody recognition of AfuABpp on the bacterial surface. Our study further showed that antibodies induced by immunization with the recombinant protein were able to opsonize B. parapertussis and promote bacterial uptake by neutrophils. We finally showed that this antigen confers protection against B. parapertussis infection in a mouse model. Altogether these results point out AfuA as a good vaccine candidate for acellular vaccines protective against both causative agents of whooping cough.
Source: Microbiology and Immunology - Category: Microbiology Authors: Tags: Original Article Source Type: research