Suppression of host humoral immunity by Borrelia burgdorferi varies over the course of infection.

ABSTRACT: Borrelia burgdorferi, the spirochetal agent of Lyme disease, utilizes a variety of strategies to evade and suppress the host immune response, which enables it to chronically persist in the host. The resulting immune response is characterized by unusually strong IgM production and a lack of long-term protective immunity. Previous studies in mice have shown that infection with B. burgdorferi also broadly suppresses host antibody responses against unrelated antigens. Here, we show that mice infected with B. burgdorferi and concomitantly immunized with recombinant severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein had an abrogated antibody response to the immunization. To further define how long this humoral immune suppression lasts, mice were immun

SUBMITTER: Williams MT 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11003232 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature