Ask the expert: How can we improve vaccine efficacy?

Whooping cough is one of the leading causes of child illness and mortality in the world, earning its name for the gasping attempts at breath that follow uncontrollable coughing fits. With infection rates approaching a six-decade high, researchers face growing challenges to stay ahead of the microscopic culprit causing the disease itself, a bacterium called Bordetella pertussis.

At Michigan State University, researchers are pushing the boundaries of vaccine science, working to protect public health at a time when misinformation and evolving pathogens threaten hard-won progress.

Xuefei Huang is an MSU Research Foundation Professor in the departments of Chemistry and Biomedical Engineering. His work combines chemistry, immunology and nanoscience to tackle a range of critical health challenges. Here, he discusses why vaccines are critical and how a new approach to whooping cough vaccine science could help strengthen our public health.

How might the recent changes to federal vaccine policy and funding impact public health?

Vaccines are essential tools to reduce the rates of infectious diseases and enhance public health. The United States has had an effective system to monitor vaccine effectiveness and safety. Approved vaccines have been proven safe through large population clinical trials and usage. Through outreach and education, the government should strive to enhance the trust and the awareness of vaccine effectiveness of the general population and strengthen the current vaccine network. In addition, as new infectious diseases are constantly emerging, both basic and translational research need to be strongly supported to encourage the interdisciplinary research necessary to better understand our immune system and to develop novel vaccines.

Why are vaccines still the gold standard of disease prevention?

Vaccines can prepare our immune system and get it ready to fight infections. Effective vaccines can provide years and even decades of protections against disease following just a few injections. In addition, high vaccination coverage reduces disease spread, which protects not only vaccinated individuals but also those who cannot be vaccinated (e.g., newborns, immunocompromised patients).

How does the whooping cough vaccine typically work?

Researchers discovered that Bordetella pertussis makes a toxin that causes the disease’s harmful cough. When children get their DTaP vaccine, which helps protect against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis, it targets this toxin directly and neutralizes its harmful effects, thus alleviating the symptoms of infection.

Why do we need a new and improved whooping cough vaccine?

While the current vaccine targets the toxin, the bacteria themselves aren’t killed. In other words, it treats the most serious and dangerous symptoms of the disease, but it doesn’t always prevent transmission. This means people can become symptom-free carriers, spreading bacteria without knowing it.

Another challenge is that these bacteria are mutating, and some have mutated to lose a particular protein that acts as an antigen in current vaccines. When bacteria escape the vaccine because of a mutation, this also increases the chances of superbugs — strains of a bacteria that are resistant to all our available antibiotics.

How can we make our whooping cough vaccines stronger and more efficient?

One way is to develop a “one-two punch” strategy that not only neutralizes the disease-causing toxin but also takes out the bacteria. This wouldn’t replace current vaccines but would make them more effective. Our lab has teamed up with researchers at the Ohio State University to explore this promising approach.

What’s the science behind a “one-two punch” against whooping cough?

We’ll first create a new antigen that’s based on unique sugars found on the surface of Bordetella pertussis. These sugars usually provoke a weak immune response, but when we attach them to a novel, MSU-patented delivery system, we’ve shown they can powerfully activate the immune system.

If you think of bacteria as criminals, they’re very good at masking themselves from our immune system. With this project, we want to retrain our immune system to look for new dangers and keep better watch within our bodies.

###

Michigan State University has been advancing the common good with uncommon will for 170 years. One of the world’s leading public research universities, MSU pushes the boundaries of discovery to make a better, safer, healthier world for all while providing life-changing opportunities to a diverse and inclusive academic community through more than 400 programs of study in 17 degree-granting colleges.

For generations, Spartans have been changing the world through research. Federal funding helps power many of the discoveries that improve lives and keep America at the forefront of innovation and competitiveness. From lifesaving cancer treatments to solutions that advance technology, agriculture, energy and more, MSU researchers work every day to shape a better future for the people of Michigan and beyond. Learn more about MSU’s research impact powered by partnership with the federal government.