Antiphospholipid autoantibodies in Lyme disease arise after scavenging of host phospholipids by Borrelia burgdorferi.

ABSTRACT: A close association with its vertebrate and tick hosts allows Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium responsible for Lyme disease, to eliminate many metabolic pathways and instead scavenge key nutrients from the host. A lipid-defined culture medium was developed to demonstrate that exogenous lipids are an essential nutrient of B. burgdorferi, which can accumulate intact phospholipids from its environment to support growth. Antibody responses to host phospholipids were studied in mice and humans using an antiphospholipid ELISA. Several of these environmentally acquired phospholipids including phosphatidylserine and phosphatidic acid, as well as borrelial phosphatidylcholine, are the targets of antibodies that arose early in infection in the mouse model. Patients with acute infections demonstra

SUBMITTER: Gwynne PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8920326 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature