Pertussis Toxin Promotes Pulmonary Hypertension in an Infant Mouse Model of Bordetella pertussis Infection

Karen M Scanlon; Ling Chen; Nicholas H Carbonetti

doi:10.1093/infdis/jiab325

Pertussis Toxin Promotes Pulmonary Hypertension in an Infant Mouse Model of Bordetella pertussis Infection

J Infect Dis. 2022 Jan 5;225(1):172-176. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiab325.

Authors

Karen M Scanlon¹, Ling Chen², Nicholas H Carbonetti¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
² Department of Physiology and Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.

Abstract

Pertussis, caused by Bordetella pertussis, is a reemerging disease that can produce severe disease manifestations in infants, including pulmonary hypertension (PH). B. pertussis-induced PH is a major risk factor for infection-induced death, but the molecular mechanisms promoting PH are unknown and there is no effective treatment. We examined B. pertussis-induced PH in infant and adult mouse models of pertussis by Fulton index, right heart catheterization, or Doppler echocardiogram. Our results demonstrate that B. pertussis-induced PH is age related and dependent on the expression of pertussis toxin by the bacterium. Hence, pertussis toxin-targeting treatments may ameliorate PH and fatal infant infection.

Keywords: Bordetella pertussis; infant; pertussis toxin; pulmonary hypertension.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

Animals
Bordetella Infections*
Bordetella pertussis*
Disease Models, Animal
Hypertension, Pulmonary / chemically induced*
Mice
Pertussis Toxin / toxicity*
Virulence Factors, Bordetella
Whooping Cough

Substances

Virulence Factors, Bordetella
Pertussis Toxin

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Substances

Grants and funding