Highly successful invasive pathogens exploit host vulnerabilities by adapting tools to co-opt highly conserved host features. This is especially true when pathogens develop ligands to hijack trafficking routes or signaling patterns of host receptors. In this context, highly successful pathogens can be grouped together by the patterns of organs infected and diseases they cause. In the case of this perspective, the focus is on the historically most successful invasive bacterial pathogens of children that cause pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis: Streptococcus pneumoniae, Haemophilus influenzae, and Neisseria meningitidis. This triad shares a ligand to bind to PAF receptor to enter host cells despite early defenses by innate immunity. All three also target laminin receptor to cross endothelial barriers using a common set of molecular tools that may prove to be a design for a cross-protective vaccine.

高度成功的侵入性病原体通过改编工具以选择高度保守的宿主特征来利用宿主漏洞。当病原体形成配体以劫持宿主受体的运输路线或信号传导模式时，尤其如此。在这种情况下，可以将高度成功的病原体按感染器官的类型和它们引起的疾病进行分类。在这种情况下，重点是导致儿童历史上最成功的导致肺炎，败血症和脑膜炎的侵入性细菌病原体：肺炎链球菌，流感嗜血杆菌和 脑膜炎奈瑟菌。尽管有先天免疫的早期防御作用，该三联体共有一个配体与PAF受体结合进入宿主细胞。所有这三者还使用一组共同的分子工具将层粘连蛋白受体靶向穿越内皮屏障，这可能证明是交叉保护疫苗的设计。