PERISCOPE

Researchers from IMI’s PERISCOPE project hope a greater understanding of interactions between pertussis bacteria and the immune system, together with a toolkit for testing new vaccines, will help prevent whooping cough disease and deaths in babies worldwide. ###Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, is a highly contagious infection of the respiratory tract caused by the Bordetella pertussis bacteria. Although there is a vaccine, cases are on the rise.

PERISCOPE aims to expedite the development of a new generation of vaccines by better understanding the immune responses that mediate long-lasting protective immunity against B. pertussis. A new tool developed by PERISCOPE researchers – the ‘human challenge model’ – has already revealed that the bacterium can lie dormant for some days in the nose and throat of healthy adults, even if they have already been immunised.

‘PERISCOPE’s partners, in particular Sanofi Pasteur and GlaxoSmithKline – the two world leaders in whooping cough vaccine manufacturing – are already making use of the information and technologies generated by the project. Their aim is to inform and accelerate the development of their own pertussis vaccine candidates,’ explains project coordinator Ronald de Groot of Radboud University in the Netherlands.

‘Public sharing of this information is also ongoing, so the wider pertussis research community can also benefit.’

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Recruitment is now open for the first clinical study under IMI’s whooping cough project PERISCOPE. The team at the UK’s University Hospital Southampton is running the study, during which healthy adults will be exposed to the bacteria Bordetella pertussis, which causes whooping cough.### Through the study, scientists hope to learn more about the immune response generated against B. pertussis and what kind of immune response protects against whooping cough. Whooping cough, also known as pertussis, causes severe coughing and can be life threatening for young children and the elderly. Although a vaccine exists, is widely used and is very effective, the incidence of whooping cough has increased in recent years and scientists are keen to find out why. By delivering tools and knowledge on the disease, PERISCOPE contributes to efforts to develop new, better vaccines against whooping cough.