Identification of a 68-kilodalton outer membrane protein as the major protective antigen of Bordetella bronchiseptica by using specific-pathogen-free piglets.

Maternal antibody to an outer membrane 68-kilodalton (kDa) protein of Bordetella bronchiseptica was shown to be protective in experiments on specific-pathogen-free piglets. After challenge with B. bronchiseptica, 100% (n = 19) control piglets from nonimmunized sows developed pneumonia, coughing, and sneezing, and 74% of the animals developed severe atrophic rhinitis. In 12 piglets from a sow immunized with 68-kDa protein, pneumonia occurred only in 34% of offspring, coughing was reduced, the duration of coughing bouts was shortened, and severe atrophic rhinitis occurred in one animal only (8%). The difference in the occurrence of atrophic rhinitis and of pneumonia in immunized and nonimmunized offspring was statistically significant (P less than 0.05). Sera of protected piglets had high titers (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) of antibodies that showed a high specificity for the 68-kDa protein isolated from B. bronchiseptica, whereas their reactivity with an analogous 69-kDa protein isolated from Bordetella pertussis was low or absent. The 68-kDa protein of B. bronchiseptica appeared to be the major protective antigen in B. bronchiseptica infection; however, isolated protein alone did not induce such a solid protection, as observed in a previous study after the application of an effective whole cell vaccine.