# Vaccine targeting catarrhal stage of pertussis disease

> **NIH NIH R56** · UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA · 2020 · $369,093

## Abstract

SUMMARY
Bordetella pertussis causes one of the most important human diseases, Pertussis or Whooping
Cough, infecting tens of millions and killing hundreds of thousands of children annually. Although
vaccines available in most industrialized countries are reasonably effective in preventing death
and the most severe forms of disease, there is growing appreciation that the current acellular
vaccines fail to prevent colonization, bacterial shedding and transmission between hosts, which
allows B. pertussis to continue to circulate and cause disease and death in the most susceptible
groups. There is little understanding of the mechanistic basis for transmission, either in terms of
bacterial factors or host immune functions involved, and consequently, there is no agreed upon
strategy to interfere with its ongoing circulation. Excitingly, recent work in our group now allows
detailed analysis of the initial and highly contagious “catarrhal phase” of the infection that is crucial
for transmission of the pathogen and spread of the disease. Based on our novel mouse model of
B. pertussis infection, that reproduces the catarrhal phase in mice, we will identify the bacterial
factors that trigger host inflammatory response, mucus secretion and bacterial shedding and the
factors required for the colonization of a new host. We will evaluate these factors for their potential
to stimulate a robust host immune response and assess these proteins or epitopes thereof as
vaccine components to prevent bacterial transmission. Supplementation of the currently used
pertussis vaccines with these newly identified bacterial “transmission factors” will not only protect
against the disease but also block the rampant spread of the pathogen.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10230869
- **Project number:** 1R56AI149787-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
- **Principal Investigator:** Eric T Harvill
- **Activity code:** R56 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $369,093
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-09-01 → 2021-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10230869

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10230869, Vaccine targeting catarrhal stage of pertussis disease (1R56AI149787-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-25 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10230869. Licensed CC0.

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