Whole-cell pertussis vaccines (WPVs) have been completely replaced by the co-purified acellular vaccines (APVs) in China. To date few laboratory studies were reported for co-purified APVs in terms of their antigenic composition and protective immune responses. To further understand the antigenic composition in co-purified APVs, in the present study 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis-based proteomic technology was used to analyze the composition of co-purified APVs. The results showed that besides the main antigens pertussis toxin (PT) and filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA), co-purified APVs also contained pertactin (PRN), fimbriae (FIM) 2and3 and other minor protein antigens. Of the 9 proteins identified, 3 were differentially presented in products from manufacturer 1 and manufacturer 2. Compared with WPVs and purified APVs, co-purified APVs induced a mixed Th1/Th2 immune response with more toward to a Th1 response than the purified APVs in this study. These results hint that different immune mechanisms might be involved in protection induced by co-purified and purified APVs.
Keywords: 2-DE, 2-dimensional gel electrophoresis; APVs, acellular pertussis vaccines; BipA, putative outer membrane ligand binding protein; Co-purified acellular pertussis vaccines; FHA, filamentous hemagglutinin; FIM, fimbriae; PRN, pertactin; PT, pertussis toxin; SHD, single human dose; Sbp, sulfate-binding protein precursor; WPVs, whole-cell pertussis vaccines; bvg, Bordetella virulence regulon; immune responses; protection; proteomic analysis; sphB1, autotransporter subtilisin-like protease.