Prominent T cell response to a selectivelyin vivo expressedBorrelia burgdorferi outer surface protein (pG) in patients with Lyme disease

Abstract

Diagnosis of Lyme disease by analysis of T cell immune responses in vitro is curtailed by poor correlation between test results and status of infection. This is probably due to the inherent nonspecific activation potential of the causative agent, the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi, for bystander lymphocytes, in particular via their outer surface lipoproteins. We have now applied a novel protocol to determine specific T cell responses in Lyme disease patients and exclude unrelated cellular responses in vitro. Non‐lipidated spirochetal antigens (OspA, OspC and P39) including those selectively expressed in the mammalian host (pG and BapA) were used for antigenic stimulation and autologous dendritic cells served as antigen‐presenting cells. The majority of patients with well‐defined early and late manifestations of Lyme disease exhibited specific T cell proliferative responses to one or more of the indicated antigens, however at distinct levels. Most notably, among the five antigens tested, pG was specifically recognized by the majority of T cell populations (>70%) – mainly Th1 cells – from patients but not control individuals. These data indicate a causal relationship between B. burgdorferi infection and T cell reactivity to pG, thus making this protein a promising additional diagnostic marker for Lyme disease.

Bacterial genome adaptation to niches: Divergence of the potential virulence genes in three Burkholderia species of different survival strategies

“…The bapA gene present in many B. burgdorferi isolates is linked to the virulence-involved erp locus and was shown to be co-expressed with the locus [ 19 ]. While the exact function is unknown, it is suspected that bapA may also perform an important function for B. furgdorferi virulence, based on its genetic pairing with the erp genes and immunological evidence [ 20 ]. BMAA0610, which codes for di-haem cytochrome C peroxidase family protein and is only present in Bm, is related to enzymes in Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Neisseria gonorrhoeae that are located in the periplasm where their likely function is to provide protection against toxic peroxides [ 21 , 22 ].…”

Immunological and genetic characterization of Borrelia burgdorferi BapA and EppA proteins

“…This genetic pairing suggests that BapA may also perform an important function for B. burgdorferi. While that role remains unknown, previous immunological evidence indicates that BapA functions during mammalian infection (Bauer et al, 2001). Some B. burgdorferi also contain a gene related to bapA, named eppA; these two genes together constitute B. burgdorferi gene paralogue family 95 (Casjens et al, 2000).…”

Nanoscopic Localization of Surface-Exposed Antigens ofBorrelia burgdorferi

“…1m–1o) also showed a punctuated pattern but much less frequent at 3.1±1.7 and 1.9±0.9 punctae/cell, respectively. This is unexpected considering the fact that both P39 and P83/100 are immunogenic antigens producing high amounts of antibodies during infection in the host (Simpson et al, 1991; Wallich et al, 1995; Roessler et al, 1997; Hauser et al, 1998; Bauer et al, 2001; Miller, 2003). However, one has to keep in mind that an immunological response is not directly proportional to the amount of antigen present.…”