Rabbit nasopharyngeal colonization byBordetella pertussis: the effects of immunization on clearance and on serum and nasal antibody levels

Abstract

SUMMARYTwo Bordetella pertussis antigen preparations, outer membrane protein (OMP) and filamentous haemagglutinin (FHA), and a standard vaccine were used to immunize rabbits, and the effects on nasopharyngeal colonization by the organism were determined. Antibodies were measured in serum and in nasal washes by ELISA before and after challenge of the rabbits with 106 bacteria of strain M2. Recoveries of B. pertussis in nasal washes were used to assess colonization, which in controls persisted for at least 65 days. Some rabbits of all the immunized groups showed enhanced clearance, but there was no correlation between the elimination of B. pertussis and serum antibodies to OMP, FHA, lipopolysaccharide, lymphocytosis-promoting factor or agglutinogen 3. In contrast, nasal IgA antibody to FHA showed significant inverse correlation with bacterial persistence. Such antibody was induced by the OMP preparation as well as by FHA, but to different extents depending on the immunization schedule and adjuvant used.

Cough production, leucocytosis and serology of rats infected intrabronchially with Bordetella pertussis

“…1 B). Control rats showed only a fairly constant and low level of coughing throughout each experiment and each paroxysm usually contained fewer individual coughs (c. [3][4][5] than in the infected animals (c. 5-10 or more [20-501 during the peak period). There was more coughing when the BP-sus was administered intranasally, with a moderate peak between days 9 and 14.…”

“…Negligible responses were obtained when heat-killed bacteria were used (Group 7) even though PT and FHA should not have been destroyed by the 56°C treatment. When bacteria were not incorporated in beads (Groups [4][5][6], the challenge was much less immunogenic, especially in response to PT, although FHA was stimulatory in Groups 5 and 6.…”

Serum IgA antibody to Bordetella pertussis as an indicator of infection

“…Serum antibodies can be demonstrated readily by various techniques. A local immune response in humans and in experimental animals has been proved by detection of IgA antibodies in respiratory secretions (Geller and Pittman, 1973;Thomas, 1975;Aleksandrowicz and Pstragowska, 1980;Goodman, Wort and Jackson, I98 1;Ashworth et al, 1982). Goodman and co-workers used the detection of IgA antibodies in nasopharyngeal secretions as an indicator of recent infection.…”

Immunogenicity of specificBordetella pertussissurface antigens in diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccines

“…The vaccines had, however, all passed the statutory mouse intracerebral challenge test for immunogenic potency (British Pharmacopoeia, 1980). Unfortunately, although this test was apparently validated in the MRC pertussis vaccine trials of the 1950s (Whooping Cough Immunization Committee et al 1956), it now appears that it is particularly sensitive to one of the several toxins produced by B. pertussis (Robinson & Irons, 1983) and not so sensitive to those surface antigens, such as the filamentous haemagglutinin (FHA) and the major agglutinogens, which we now believe are important as 'adhesins' in experimental and, presumably, natural B. pertussis infections (Preston & Stanbridge, 1976;Ashworth et al 1982;Robinson, Irons & Ashworth, 1985).…”