Surface-exposed antibody-accessible outer membrane proteins of Bordetella pertussis

The convalescent sera from a patient recovered from whooping cough were used to identify the surface-exposed antibody-accessible outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of Bordetella pertussis. The results indicated that the 69,000 OMP, the 40,000 porin, agglutinogens 2 and 3, and a number of presently unknown OMPs were exposed on the surface. The importance of these surface-exposed antigens in the protection against whooping cough is discussed.