Further, while previous studies showed a defect in bacterial clearance in IL-17A and IL-17R knockout mice, we observed no significant defect in the production of this cytokine in the lungs of IL-1β/IL-1R deficient mice during a primary infection, suggesting these cytokines are not sufficient for B. pertussis clearance in the absence of IL-1R signaling [10], [41], [42]. This evidence concerns the gene IL17A and infection.