Guidelines recommend that pregnant women be vaccinated against pertussis between gestational weeks 26 and 36. We show that this narrow window can be widened, as optimal neonatal antibody concentrations and expected infant seropositivity rates are elicited between weeks 13 and 33.
Preterm infants are most vulnerable to pertussis. Whether they might benefit from maternal immunization is unknown. Extending our previous results in term neonates, this observational study demonstrates that second- rather than third-trimester maternal vaccination results in higher birth anti–pertussis toxin titers in preterm neonates.
The purified toxin of Bordetella pertussis was dissociated in 5 M urea in the presence of immobilized haptoglobin. The toxin was dissociated in free Si, free Ss and the free complexes S& and Sr-S4, with S& as the only haptoglobin-binding moiety, identifying S2 as the haptoglobin-binding protein.Partial NH*-terminal amino acid sequences were obtained from the dissimilar toxin subunits, after separation by SDS-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis followed by electrob~otting onto polybrenecoated glass-fiber sheets. The sequences reveal extensive homology of the N-seminal portions of the constitutive subunits Sz and Ss and between Si and the enterotoxin A chains of Vibrio cholerae and Esc~erichia coli.
Pertussis toxin
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.