Serum reactome induced by Bordetella pertussis infection and Pertussis vaccines: qualitative differences in serum antibody recognition patterns revealed by peptide microarray analysis

Background Pertussis (whooping cough) remains a public health problem despite extensive vaccination strategies. Better understanding of the host-pathogen interaction and the detailed B. pertussis (Bp) target recognition pattern will help in guided vaccine design. We characterized the specific epitope antigen recognition profiles of serum antibodies (‘the reactome’) induced by whooping cough and B. pertussis (Bp) vaccines from a case–control study conducted in 1996 in infants enrolled in a Bp vaccine trial in Sweden (Gustafsson, NEJM, 1996, 334, 349–355).