Adenylate cyclase toxin is a virulence factor in B. pertussis.1 It is composed of an adenylate cyclase domain that binds calmodulin and an RTX hemolysin domain that contains a pore-forming domain, an activation domain with two lysine acylation sites, calcium binding repeats, and a C-terminal secretion signal. The calcium binding repeat domain binds to complement receptor 3 (CD11b/CD18) on sentinel cells and the pore-forming domain allows entry of the adenylyl cyclase domain, which increases cAMP and calcium levels, permeabilizes the membrane, inhibits phagocytic functions, and may induce cell death through apoptosis or necrosis. Adenylate cyclase toxin has been used in the development of a microsphere-based multiplex antibody capture assay to quantify antibody amounts in acellular pertussis vaccines.2WARNING This product is not for human or veterinary use.
