Evaluation of Host-Pathogen Responses and Vaccine Efficacy in Mice

Vaccines are a 20th century medical marvel. They have dramatically reduced the morbidity and mortality caused by infectious diseases and contributed to a striking increase in life expectancy around the globe. Nonetheless, determining vaccine efficacy remains a challenge. Emerging evidence suggests that the current acellular vaccine (aPV) for Bordetella pertussis (B. pertussis) induces suboptimal immunity. Therefore, a major challenge is designing a next-generation vaccine that induces protective immunity without the adverse side effects of a whole-cell vaccine (wPV). Here we describe a protocol that we used to test the efficacy of a promising, novel adjuvant that skews immune responses to a protective Th1/Th17 phenotype and promotes a better clearance of a B. pertussis challenge from the murine respiratory tract. This article describes the protocol for mouse immunization, bacterial inoculation, tissue harvesting, and analysis of immune responses. Using this method, within our model, we have successfully elucidated crucial mechanisms elicited by a promising, next-generation acellular pertussis vaccine. This method can be applied to any infectious disease model in order to determine vaccine efficacy.