Bordetella filamentous hemagglutinin plays a critical role in immunomodulation, suggesting a mechanism for host specificity.

ABSTRACT: Bordetella pertussis, the causative agent of the acute childhood respiratory disease whooping cough, is a human-adapted variant of Bordetella bronchiseptica, which displays a broad host range and typically causes chronic, asymptomatic infections. These pathogens express a similar but not identical surface-exposed and secreted protein called filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) that has been proposed to function as both a primary adhesin and an immunomodulator. To test the hypothesis that FHA plays an important role in determining host specificity and/or the propensity to cause acute versus chronic disease, we constructed a B. bronchiseptica strain expressing FHA from B. pertussis (FHA(Bp)) and compared it with wild-type B. bronchiseptica in several natural-host infection models. FHA(Bp) was abl

SUBMITTER: Inatsuka CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1317942 | biostudies-literature | 2005 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature