Structure-Based Design of Diagnostics and Vaccines for Lyme Disease

Changes in climate have increased the geographical range of insect vectors responsible for the transmission of several diseases. Lyme disease, caused by the bacterial pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi, has become recognized as the most prevalent arthropod-borne infection in the USA. It is transmitted to humans through the bite of infected blacklegged ticks. As yet, there are no commercial vaccines available that effectively provide protection against Lyme disease. Vaccination strategies involving use of subunit vaccines developed in many laboratories have been found to be less efficient in protecting against the disease. Hence, there is a need to develop powerful vaccines that provide robust protection against Borrelia. Recently, using the principle of structure-based design, we designed and developed novel diagnostics and vaccine candidates that protected against Lyme disease in animal models. This chapter describes design and development of peptides based on the principle of structure-based design for use in diagnostics and vaccines to protect against Lyme disease in an animal model.