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Detecting the Lyme Disease Spirochete, Borrelia Burgdorferi, in Ticks Using Nested PCR
Published on: February 4, 2018
Detection and preliminary characterization of circulating immune complexes in patients with Lyme disease
W Zhong1, P Oschmann, H J Wellensiek
1Institute for Medical Microbiology, University of Giessen, Germany. zhong@immunbio.mpg.de
Insights
Circulating immune complexes can indicate active Lyme disease and monitor treatment effectiveness. Detecting these complexes, including Borrelia burgdorferi antigens, offers insights into disease activity and pathology.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases
- Biomarker Discovery
Background:
- Lyme disease activity assessment and treatment monitoring require reliable biomarkers.
- Circulating immune complexes (CICs) are implicated in various autoimmune and infectious diseases.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the utility of CICs as a disease marker for Lyme disease activity.
- To assess the potential of CICs for monitoring patient response to antibiotic treatment.
Main Methods:
- Tested 104 patient sera and 35 cerebrospinal fluid samples using C1q enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a modified Raji cell test.
- Analyzed isolated immune complexes using dot blot to identify Borrelia burgdorferi antigens and host components.
Main Results:
- 43.5% of active Lyme disease sera were positive by C1q-ELISA, and 33.9% by Raji cell test.
- Fewer than 10% of post-treatment sera showed CICs, indicating reduced disease activity.
- Confirmed presence of Borrelia burgdorferi antigens and host components in CICs from active disease patients.
Conclusions:
- Detection of CICs is a useful parameter for assessing Lyme disease activity.
- CIC analysis, particularly spirochete-specific complexes, offers new insights into Lyme disease pathophysiology.
Abstract:
To investigate whether circulating immune complexes can be used as a disease marker for assessment of the activity of Lyme disease and for monitoring patients response to treatment, we tested 104 sera from patients with different stages of Lyme disease using the C1q enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and a modified Raji cell test. Among 62 sera of patients with clinically active disease 27 sera (43.5%) reacted positively in the C1q-ELISA and 21 sera (33.9%) positively in the Raji cell test. In contrast, serum circulating immune complexes were found in less than 10% of 42 sera after antibiotic treatment. Similar results were obtained by both tests in 35 cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with neuroborreliosis. Most importantly, dot blot analysis revealed the presence of both Borrelia burgdorferi-specific antigen(s) and host-derived components in the isolated immune complexes from serum samples of patients with active Lyme disease. These results indicate that detection of circulating immune complexes may be an useful parameter for judging the activity of Lyme disease. Moreover, preliminary characterization of spirochete-specific immune complexes implies new pathophysiological aspects of Lyme disease.
