IL-17 and IFN-γ-producing respiratory tissue resident memory CD4†T cells persist for decades in adults immunized as children with whole cell pertussis vaccines.

The objective was to determine if antigen-specific tissue resident memory T (TRM) cells persist in respiratory tissues of adults immunized as children with whole cell pertussis (wP) or acellular pertussis (aP) vaccines. Mononuclear cells from tonsil or nasal tissue cells were cultured with Bordetella pertussis antigens and TRM cells quantified by flow cytometry. Adults immunized with wP vaccines as children had significantly more IL-17A and IFN-y-producing TRM cells that respond to B. pertussis antigens in respiratory tissues when compared with aP-primed donors. Our findings demonstrate that wP vaccines induce CD4 TRM cells that can persist in respiratory tissues for decades.

Nasal vaccines for pertussis.

Whooping cough, caused by Bordetella pertussis, is still a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Current acellular pertussis (aP) vaccines induce potent circulating IgG and prevent severe disease in children/adults and in infants born to vaccinated mothers. However, they do not prevent nasal infection, allowing asymptomatic transmission of B. pertussis. Studies in animal models have demonstrated that, unlike natural infection, immunization with aP vaccines fails to induce secretory immunoglobulin A (IgA) or interleukin-17 (IL-17)-secreting tissue-resident memory CD4 T (TRM) cells, required for sustained sterilizing immunity in the nasal mucosa. Live-attenuated vaccines or aP vaccines formulated with novel adjuvants that induce respiratory IgA and TRM cells, especially when delivered by the nasal route, are in development and have considerable promise as next-generation vaccines against pertussis.