Neonatal-mouse model to characterize vaccines and strategies for overcoming pertussis in early life

MARTIN AISPURO, PABLO; GAILLARD, MARÍA EMILIA; ZURITA, MARÍA EUGENIA; HOZBOR, DANIELA FLAVIA; AMBROSIS N; BOTTERO, DANIELA

Congreso; REUNIÓN DE SOCIEDADES DE BIOCIENCIAS 2020; 2020

SAIC-SAI-SAFIS

The recent increase in pertussis cases demands more effective approachesto overcome this health problem. In parallel with maternalimmunization, neonatal immunization (NI) is a strategy needing revision.Using the intranasal challenge mouse model (Balb/C), weobserved that NI may improve current pertussis epidemiology. Forneonates without maternal immunity, mixed vaccination scheduleswith commercial pertussis acellular vaccine (BoostrixTM, GSK) andour novel outer membrane vesicle (OMV)-based vaccine candidateappear to be the most appropriate schedule to induce protection inthe pups. For offspring from immune mothers, to avoid blunting effect,NI should be carried out with vaccines other than those appliedduring pregnancy. Here we detected that after 2-dose vaccinationschedules administered subcutaneously at the age of 1 week and 3weeks, the blunting effect of maternal immunity was lost, regardlessof the type of vaccine used. At 7 days after the challenge (at 14 daysafter the last vaccine dose), any of the 2-dose schedule tested reducedat least 4 logs the B. pertussis CFU recovered from the lungsin comparison to non-immunized mice (n=6 per group, p