UNLABELLED: The adenylate cyclase toxin (ACT, AC-Hly, or CyaA) plays a key role in airway infections by Bordetella pertussis and ablates the oxidative burst and opsonophagocytic capacity of sentinel phagocytes. CyaA fragments eliciting toxin-neutralizing antibodies are considered prime antigen candidates for improved acellular pertussis (aP) vaccines but their contribution to aP-mediated protection against B. pertussis infection awaits demonstration. We explored whether hybrid antigens inducing simultaneously CyaA-neutralizing and anti-Prn opsonizing antibody responses can enhance aP-elicited protection of mouse airways from infection. Fusion to the N-terminus of an RTX908 antigen derived from CyaA enabled an accelerated folding of the pertactin passenger domain (rPrn) in function of calcium loading of the RTX908 moiety and conferred on the rPrn-RTX908 fusion antigen a superior capacity to induce functional anti-Prn IgG antibodies. The rPrn-RTX908 fusion antigen also elicited CyaA neutralizing anti-RTX antibodies that relieved the toxin-imposed inhibition of oxidative burst and opsonophagocytic uptake of B. pertussis bacteria by HL-60 cells exposed to physiological concentrations of the CyaA toxin. Intranasal immunization of mice with the rPrn-RTX908 antigen admixed into a PT and FHA-based aP vaccine elicited specific sIgA responses in mucosal secretions (saliva) and conferred a significantly enhanced protection of mouse lung and nose mucosa against B. pertussis infection, yielding a significantly accelerated clearance of bacteria from the infected lungs within a single day from infection. These results demonstrate the added value of anti-CyaA antibodies elicited by intranasal application of the rPrn-RTX908 fusion antigen in the protection of the airway against B. pertussis infection. IMPORTANCE: Despite high vaccine coverage, unexpectedly massive whooping cough outbreaks are currently resurging in the most developed countries using the acellular pertussis (aP) vaccine. Accelerated development of improved aP vaccines, conferring a more complete and longer-lasting protection of the airway from Bordetella pertussis infection, is sorely needed. The highly immunosuppressive RTX adenylate cyclase toxin (CyaA) was proposed as a prime antigen candidate for inclusion into improved aP vaccines. We show here that a soluble RTX-derived antigen fused to the major opsonizing antibody target pertactin (rPrn-RTX908 hybrid) elicits opsonizing and toxin-neutralizing antibody responses that relieve the CyaA-imposed block of bactericidal opsonophagocytic uptake capacities of sentinel phagocytes. Intranasal immunization with the rPrn-RTX908 hybrid antigen then enables a significantly accelerated clearance of B. pertussis bacteria from mouse lungs and superior protection of mouse nasal mucosa from bacterial infection. These results unravel the added value of RTX antigen inclusion into the next generation of aP vaccines.

• Klíčová slova
• Bordetella pertussis, adenylate cyclase toxin, pertactin, pertussis, protection, protein folding, whooping cough,
• MeSH
• adenylátcyklasový toxin * imunologie   genetika   aplikace a dávkování   MeSH
• antigeny bakteriální * imunologie   genetika   aplikace a dávkování   MeSH
• aplikace intranazální MeSH
• Bordetella pertussis * imunologie   genetika   MeSH
• faktory virulence rodu Bordetella * imunologie   genetika   aplikace a dávkování   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• myši inbrední BALB C MeSH
• myši MeSH
• neutralizující protilátky krev   imunologie   MeSH
• pertuse * prevence a kontrola   imunologie   mikrobiologie   MeSH
• pertusová vakcína * imunologie   aplikace a dávkování   genetika   MeSH
• proteiny vnější bakteriální membrány * imunologie   genetika   aplikace a dávkování   MeSH
• protilátky bakteriální krev   imunologie   MeSH
• rekombinantní fúzní proteiny imunologie   genetika   aplikace a dávkování   MeSH
• respirační sliznice * imunologie   mikrobiologie   MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• myši MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Názvy látek
• adenylátcyklasový toxin * MeSH
• antigeny bakteriální * MeSH
• faktory virulence rodu Bordetella * MeSH
• neutralizující protilátky MeSH
• pertactin MeSH Prohlížeč
• pertusová vakcína * MeSH
• proteiny vnější bakteriální membrány * MeSH
• protilátky bakteriální MeSH
• rekombinantní fúzní proteiny MeSH

The adenylate cyclase (ACT) and the pertussis (PT) toxins of Bordetella pertussis exert potent immunomodulatory activities that synergize to suppress host defense in the course of whooping cough pathogenesis. We compared the mouse lung infection capacities of B. pertussis (Bp) mutants (Bp AC- or Bp PT-) producing enzymatically inactive toxoids and confirm that ACT action is required for maximal bacterial proliferation in the first days of infection, whereas PT action is crucial for persistence of B. pertussis in mouse lungs. Despite accelerated and near complete clearance from the lungs by day 14 of infection, the PT- bacteria accumulated within the lymphoid tissue of lung-draining mediastinal lymph nodes (mLNs). In contrast, the wild type or AC- bacteria colonized the lungs but did not enter into mLNs. Lung infection by the PT- mutant triggered an early arrival of migratory conventional dendritic cells with associated bacteria into mLNs, where the PT- bacteria entered the T cell-rich paracortex of mLNs by day 5 and proliferated in clusters within the B-cell zone (cortex) of mLNs by day 14, being eventually phagocytosed by infiltrating neutrophils. Finally, only infection by the PT- bacteria triggered an early production of anti-B. pertussis serum IgG antibodies already within 14 days of infection. These results reveal that action of the pertussis toxin blocks DC-mediated delivery of B. pertussis bacteria into mLNs and prevents bacterial colonization of mLNs, thus hampering early adaptive immune response to B. pertussis infection.

• MeSH
• Bordetella pertussis * MeSH
• dendritické buňky patologie   MeSH
• lymfatické uzliny patologie   MeSH
• myši inbrední BALB C MeSH
• myši MeSH
• pertuse * MeSH
• pertusový toxin MeSH
• plíce MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• myši MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• pertusový toxin MeSH

Bordetella pertussis is a Gram-negative pathogen causing the human respiratory disease called pertussis or whooping cough. Here we examined the role of the RNA chaperone Hfq in B. pertussis virulence. Hfq mediates interactions between small regulatory RNAs and their mRNA targets and thus plays an important role in posttranscriptional regulation of many cellular processes in bacteria, including production of virulence factors. We characterized an hfq deletion mutant (Δhfq) of B. pertussis 18323 and show that the Δhfq strain produces decreased amounts of the adenylate cyclase toxin that plays a central role in B. pertussis virulence. Production of pertussis toxin and filamentous hemagglutinin was affected to a lesser extent. In vitro, the ability of the Δhfq strain to survive within macrophages was significantly reduced compared to that of the wild-type (wt) strain. The virulence of the Δhfq strain in the mouse respiratory model of infection was attenuated, with its capacity to colonize mouse lungs being strongly reduced and its 50% lethal dose value being increased by one order of magnitude over that of the wt strain. In mixed-infection experiments, the Δhfq strain was then clearly outcompeted by the wt strain. This requirement for Hfq suggests involvement of small noncoding RNA regulation in B. pertussis virulence.

• MeSH
• analýza přežití MeSH
• bakteriální nálož MeSH
• Bordetella pertussis genetika   patogenita   MeSH
• delece genu MeSH
• faktory virulence genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• LD50 MeSH
• modely nemocí na zvířatech MeSH
• myši MeSH
• pertuse mikrobiologie   patologie   MeSH
• pertusový toxin metabolismus   MeSH
• plíce mikrobiologie   MeSH
• protein hostitelského faktoru 1 genetika   metabolismus   MeSH
• regulace genové exprese u bakterií MeSH
• virulence MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Check Tag
• myši MeSH
• zvířata MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• faktory virulence MeSH
• pertusový toxin MeSH
• protein hostitelského faktoru 1 MeSH