Interaction of Lyme disease spirochetes with cultured eucaryotic cells

Lyme Disease Spirochetes

Isolation and cultivation of Lyme disease spirochetes.

The successful isolation and cultivation of Lyme disease spirochetes traces its lineage to early attempts at cultivating relapsing fever borreliae. Observations on the growth of Lyme disease spirochetes under different in vitro conditions may yield important clues to both the metabolic characteristics of these newly discovered organisms and the pathogenesis of Lyme disease.

DNA characterization of Lyme disease spirochetes.

Lyme disease spirochetes (LDS) have phenotypic characteristics of both treponemes and borreliae. To ascertain whether one or more species of LDS exist, as well as their taxonomic status, we determined the DNA base (G + C) content for three strains of LDS, the DNA relatedness of ten strains isolated in the United States or Europe, and the DNA relatedness of LDS to other spirochetes. The G + C co...

Immune evasion of the Lyme disease spirochetes.

The Lyme disease spirochetes, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, have adapted very well to both surviving and persisting in the mammalian host despite a strong host antibody response. It appears that both temporal and spatial regulation of outer surface proteins have contributed to this persistence. The spirochetes are able to bind fH and FHL-1 to their surface, resulting in decreased complement ...

Immunochemical analysis of Lyme disease spirochetes.

Sera from patients with Lyme disease (LD) originating in the United States and Europe were examined by western blot analysis for antibodies to LD spirochete components. Whereas some components reacted with antibodies from the majority of patients, other components, notably an abundant cellular protein with an apparent molecular weight of 34,000 were less commonly bound. This latter proteinaceou...