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The potential public health benefit of live-attenuated pertussis vaccines

Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Introduction Despite high vaccination coverage, pertussis remains endemic and epidemic cycles continue to occur every 3-5 years, illustrating the shortcomings of current vaccination strategies. Unlike current vaccines, especially acellular pertussis vaccines which prevent disease for short duration but do not prevent nasal colonization by the etiological agent Bordetella pertussis, natural infection can induce durable immunity against disease and infection. Accordingly, live-attenuated nasal pertussis vaccine candidates have been developed to mimic the immunogenicity of natural infection without causing disease.Areas Covered We summarize the current status of live-attenuated nasal pertussis vaccines based on a literature search with key words ‘pertussis vaccine,’ ‘live,’ ‘attenuated.’ These candidates were designed based on different strategies, including dependence on critical metabolites for bacterial growth, genetic attenuation of virulence and modification of immunomodulatory properties of Bordetella.Expert Opinion Only vaccines based on genetic attenuation of virulence have reached clinical development thus far. The most advanced candidate is BPZE1, which has successfully completed 6 clinical studies demonstrating safety, systemic and mucosal immunogenicity and the ability to prevent or substantially reduce B. pertussis infection. If BPZE1 is eventually adopted for global use, it will likely be a major breakthrough in the ultimate control of pertussis, which has plagued humanity for centuries.
Language: English
Subfield: Microbiology
Open Access status: hybrid
OpenAlex ID: W4416225355
FWCI: 1.428
Cites: 77
Cited by: 3
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