title: Borrelia burgdorferi induces a type I interferon response during early stages of disseminated infection in mice.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Lyme borrelia genotypes differ in their capacity to cause disseminated disease. Gene array analysis was employed to profile the host transcriptome induced by Borrelia burgdorferi strains with different capacities for causing disseminated disease in the blood of C3H/HeJ mice during early infection.
  
  
  RESULTS
  B. burgdorferi B515, a clinical isolate that causes disseminated infection in mice, differentially regulated 236 transcripts (P < 0.05 by ANOVA, with fold change of at least 2). The 216 significantly induced transcripts included interferon (IFN)-responsive genes and genes involved in immunity and inflammation. In contrast, B. burgdorferi B331, a clinical isolate that causes transient skin infection but does not disseminate in C3H/HeJ mice, stimulated changes in only a few genes (1 induced, 4 repressed). Transcriptional regulation of type I IFN and IFN-related genes was measured by quantitative RT-PCR in mouse skin biopsies collected from the site of infection 24 h after inoculation with B. burgdorferi. The mean values for transcripts of Ifnb, Cxcl10, Gbp1, Ifit1, Ifit3, Irf7, Mx1, and Stat2 were found to be significantly increased in B. burgdorferi strain B515-infected mice relative to the control group. In contrast, transcription of these genes was not significantly changed in response to B. burgdorferi strain B331 or B31-4, a mutant that is unable to disseminate.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results establish a positive association between the disseminating capacity of B. burgdorferi and early type I IFN induction in a murine model of Lyme disease.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, USA. mary_petzke@nymc.edu.
authors.forename: Mary M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Petzke
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, USA. radha_iyer@nymc.edu.
authors.forename: Radha
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Iyer
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, USA. andreaclove@gmail.com.|Present Address: Nexcelom Bioscience LLC, Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA. andreaclove@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Andrea C
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Love
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, USA. zospieler@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Zoe
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Spieler
authors.affiliation: Bionomics Research and Technology Center, Robert Wood Johnson-University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey/Rutgers University, Piscataway, New Jersey, USA. brooks@dls.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Brooks
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York, USA. ira_schwartz@nymc.edu.
authors.forename: Ira
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Schwartz
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D025065:Borrelia burgdorferi / Q000502:physiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007370:Interferon Type I / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D008193:Lyme Disease / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H
chemical_list: D007370:Interferon Type I