O antigen allows Bordetella parapertussis to evade a B. pertussis vaccine by blocking binding of cross-reactive antibodies

ZHANG, XUQING; RODRIGUEZ, MARIA EUGENIA; HARVILL, ERIC

Plos One

PLoS Journals

Año: 2009 vol. 4 p. 1 - 11

1932-6203

Although the prevalence of B. parapertussis varies dramatically between studies in different populations with different vaccination regimens, there is broad agreement that whooping cough vaccines, composed only of B. pertussis antigens, provide little if any protection against B. parapertussis. In C57BL/6 mice a B. pertussis whole cell vaccine (wP) provided modest protection against B. parapertussis, that was dependent on IFN-ã. The wP was much more protective against an isogenic B. parapertussis strain lacking O antigen than its wild-type counterpart. O-antigen inhibited binding of wP-induced antibodies to B. parapertussis as well as antibody-mediated opsonophagocytosis in vitro and clearance in vivo. aP-induced antibodies also bound better in vitro to the O-antigen mutant than to wild-type B. parapertussis, but aP still failed to confer protection against O-antigen deficient B. parapertussis. Interestingly, B. parapertussis specific antibodies provided in addition to either wP or aP were sufficient to very rapidly reduce B. parapertussis numbers in mouse lungs. This study identifies a mechanism by which one pathogen escapes immunity induced by vaccination against a closely related pathogen, and may explain why B. parapertussis prevalence varies substantially between populations with different vaccination strategies.