Delineating Surface Epitopes of Lyme Disease Pathogen Targeted by Highly Protective Antibodies of New Zealand White Rabbits.

ABSTRACT: Lyme disease (LD), the most prevalent vector-borne illness in the United States and Europe, is caused by Borreliella burgdorferi No vaccine is available for humans. Dogmatically, B. burgdorferi can establish a persistent infection in the mammalian host (e.g., mice) due to a surface antigen, VlsE. This antigenically variable protein allows the spirochete to continually evade borreliacidal antibodies. However, our recent study has shown that the B. burgdorferi spirochete is effectively cleared by anti-B. burgdorferi antibodies of New Zealand White rabbits, despite the surface expression of VlsE. Besides homologous protection, the rabbit antibodies also cross-protect against heterologous B. burgdorferi spirochetes and significantly reduce the pathology of LD arthritis in persistently infected

SUBMITTER: Rogovskyy AS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6652771 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature