Production of outer surface protein A by Borrelia burgdorferi during transmission from infected mammals to feeding ticks is insufficient to trigger OspA seroconversion.
The Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, produces two outer surface lipoproteins, OspA and OspB, that are essential for colonization of tick vectors. Both proteins are highly expressed during transmission from infected mammals to feeding ticks and during colonization of tick midguts, but are repressed when bacteria are transmitted from ticks to mammals. Humans and other infected mammals generally do not produce antibodies against either protein, although some Lyme disease patients do seroconvert and produce antibodies against OspA for unknown reasons. We hypothesized that, if such patients had been fed upon by additional ticks, bacteria moving from the patients' bodies to the feeding ticks would have produced OspA and OspB proteins, which then led to immune system recognition and antibody production. This hypothesis was tested by analyzing immune responses of infected mice following feedings by additional Ixodes scapularis ticks. However, results of the present studies demonstrate that expression of OspA and OspB by B. burgdorferi during transmission from infected mammals to feeding ticks does not trigger seroconversion.
Woodman
Michael E
ME
Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, KY 40536-0298, USA.
Cooley
Anne E
AE
Stevenson
Brian
B
D000818:Animals; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000276:immunology; D000954:Antigens, Surface / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology*; D001096:Arachnid Vectors / Q000382:microbiology*; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology*; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology*; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D018884:Ixodes / Q000382:microbiology*; D008074:Lipoproteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000276:immunology*; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology / Q000635:transmission*; D051379:Mice; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D000942:Antigens, Bacterial; D000954:Antigens, Surface; D001425:Bacterial Outer Membrane Proteins; D001428:Bacterial Vaccines; D008074:Lipoproteins; C072045:OspA protein; C077030:OspB protein, Borrelia burgdorferi