Determination of Maternal and Infant Immune Responses to Pertussis Vaccination in Pregnancy.

The Bordetella pertussis bacterium is the causative agent of whooping cough (pertussis disease). Following recent outbreaks of pertussis, disproportionately affecting young infants, several countries have introduced maternal pertussis vaccination strategies, aimed at boosting transplacental transfer of protective antibodies during pregnancy. Given historical associations between high maternal antibody and blunted infant responses to vaccination, subsequent research studies have investigated the impact of maternal pertussis vaccine on infant humoral responses. However, far less is known about the potential impact of the vaccine on innate immunity. Here, we describe methods to detect in vitro cellular responses to B. pertussis in mothers and their infants using a B. pertussis stimulation assay and multiplex cytokine assays to address this research question.