Species specificity of Bordetella adherence to human and animal ciliated respiratory epithelial cells

Abstract

Bacteria of the genus Bordetella adhere preferentially to ciliated respiratory epithelial cells. The specificity of this unique tropism was studied by assessing the concentration-dependent adherence of the 3 Bordetella spp. to ciliated cells from different hosts. B. pertussis and B. parapertussis adhere better to human ciliated cells than to those from rabbits, mice or hamsters. B. bronchiseptica demonstrates preferential adherence to nonhuman mammalian ciliated cells of rabbits, mice and hamsters. There was no attachment of any Bordetella organisms to chicken ciliated cells. These observations suggest that specificities of attachment may explain the marked predominance of B. pertussis as the cause of whooping cough in humans and of B. bronchiseptica as a respiratory pathogen of many nonhuman mammals.