27 Jun Lyme Borrelia: Different Antibody Responses in Late-stage infection with American vs European strains

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Xin Li, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of Veterinary Biosciences
The Ohio State University
344 Veterinary Medicine Academic Building
Columbus, OH 43210

MedicalResearch.com: What are the main findings of the study?

Dr. Xin Li : Antibody responses to borrelial antigens that are primarily expressed during the tick phase the spirochetes’ life cycle are common in American patients with Lyme arthritis, a late-stage manifestation of Lyme borreliosis, but are rare in American patients with early-stage infection or European patients with early- or late-stage infection.

MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients taken away from your report?

Dr. Xin Li : Late-stage infection with either American or European Lyme Borrelia strains results in differential antibody responses to a specific set of Borrelial antigens.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Dr. Xin Li : Determine why concerted upregulation or de-repression of tick-specific borrelial antigens occurs only with American but not European Lyme Borrelia strains, and try to understand its implication in disease pathogenesis.

Citation:

Tick-Specific Borrelial Antigens Appear to Be Up-Regulated in American but Not European Patients with Lyme Arthritis, a Late Manifestation of Lyme Borreliosis
Xin Li, Klemen Strle, Peng Wang, David I. Acosta, Gail A. McHugh, Nikhil Sikand, Franc Strle, and Allen C. Steere
J Infect Dis. first published online June 12, 2013 doi:10.1093/infdis/jit269

Last Updated on June 27, 2013 by Marie Benz MD FAAD