Lima L, et al. - Researchers assessed neonatal passive acquisition of pertussis-specific antibodies as well as their impact on the neonatal cell-mediated immune response in this study performed on pregnant women, including 66 women who received Tdap vaccine (case group) and 101 women who received no vaccine (control group). In paired maternal-cord sera, they measured whole-cell Bordetella pertussis (Bp), pertussis toxin (PT), filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) and pertactin (PRN)-specific serum IgG. They assessed Bp- and PT-specific IgA in colostrum by ELISA. Compared with the control group, higher concentrations of anti-Bp, PT, FHA and PRN IgG were noted in maternal and cord sera from case group; both groups showed positive correlation indexes for all pertussis antigens. Findings revealed that the neonatal ex vivo cell-mediated immune response remained unaffected by higher pertussis-specific IgG levels in newborn sera following maternal vaccination.