title: Searching for borrelial T cell epitopes associated with antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis.
abstract: Antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis is believed to result from an infection-induced autoimmune response triggered by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb). Disease susceptibility is associated with the HLA alleles DRB1*0101, 0401, 0402, 0404, 0405 and DRB5*0101, and all these MHC molecules bind the Bb epitope OspA(163-175.) However, not all patients have a proliferative response to this epitope. To identify other possible Bb epitopes involved in this disease process, the algorithm TEPITOPE was used to scan 17 immunogenic Bb proteins for potential T cell epitopes with a refractory arthritis-associated MHC binding profile, and the Bb proteome was searched for peptides with sequence homology to OspA(165-173). Sixteen promising T epitopes were identified and their MHC binding profiles to 13 MHC molecules were verified using in vitro MHC/peptide binding assays. One peptide, BBK32(392-404), had a strong refractory arthritis-associated MHC binding profile, and another GK(297-306) shared sequence homology to OspA(165-173). However, patient cells did not proliferate in response to either peptide making it highly unlikely they were involved in a refractory course. A comparison of the in silico and in vitro results revealed that TEPITOPE correctly predicted 74% of the in vitro binding peptides, but it incorrectly predicted that 44% of the in vitrononbinding peptides would bind. For a particular MHC molecule, concordance between the in silico and in vitro results varied anywhere between 33% and 100%. Therefore, while additional Bb epitopes may be involved in the development of antibiotic-refractory Lyme arthritis, recognition of OspA(163-175) remains the only known Bb epitope associated with this disease course.
authors.affiliation: Center for Immunology and Inflammatory Diseases, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA. edrouin@partners.org
authors.forename: Elise E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Drouin
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Glickstein
authors.forename: William W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Kwok
authors.forename: Gerald T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Nepom
authors.forename: Allen C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Steere
mesh_terms: D001426:Bacterial Proteins / Q000276:immunology; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000276:immunology*; D019295:Computational Biology; D003201:Computers; D004352:Drug Resistance, Microbial / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology*; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000276:immunology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D010455:Peptides / Q000276:immunology; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte; D006684:HLA-DR Antigens; D010455:Peptides