Receptor

Pertactin

Immunization

Bacteria

Biology

Microbiology

Antigen

Virology

Vaccination

Immunology

Bordetella

Pertussis vaccine

Bordetella pertussis

Whooping cough

G protein

Pertussis toxin

Genetics

Medicine

Emerging infectious diseases

Recent reemergence of pertussis (whooping cough) in highly vaccinated populations and rapid expansion of Bordetella pertussis strains lacking pertactin (PRN), a common acellular vaccine antigen, have raised the specter of vaccine-driven evolution and potential return of what was once the major killer of children. The discovery that most circulating B. pertussis strains in the United States have acquired new and independent disruptive mutations in PRN is compelling evidence of strong selective pressure. However, the other 4 antigens included in acellular vaccines do not appear to be selected against so rapidly. We consider 3 aspects of PRN that distinguish it from other vaccine antigens, which might, individually or collectively, explain why only this antigen is being precipitously eliminated. An understanding of the increase in PRN-deficient strains should provide useful information for the current search for new protective antigens and provide broader lessons for the design of improved subunit vaccines.

Pertactin-Deficient<i>Bordetella pertussis</i>, Vaccine-Driven Evolution, and Reemergence of Pertussis

Pertactin-DeficientBordetella pertussis, Vaccine-Driven Evolution, and Reemergence of Pertussis