Skip to main content
The Journal of Experimental Medicine logoLink to The Journal of Experimental Medicine
. 1993 Aug 1;178(2):755–758. doi: 10.1084/jem.178.2.755

Protection against antigenically variable Borrelia burgdorferi conferred by recombinant vaccines

PMCID: PMC2191140  PMID: 8340764

Abstract

Due to local variation in the antigenicity of the agent of Lyme disease (Borrelia burgdorferi), a vaccine derived from any one isolate of this spirochete may fail to protect against the heterogeneous population of organisms that may be present in an enzootic focus. Accordingly, we determined whether antigenically variable spirochetes delivered by naturally infected ticks, collected from a site where transmission is intense, may fail to infect mice actively immunized with recombinant glutathione transferase outer surface fusion proteins A or B (OspA and OspB). Virtually all mice vaccinated by either immunogen appeared not to become infected, as determined by culture or histopathology of their tissues. We conclude that Osp vaccination of mice effectively prevents infection by the agent of Lyme disease in a simulated natural cycle of transmission.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (358.3 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Armstrong A. L., Barthold S. W., Persing D. H., Beck D. S. Carditis in Lyme disease susceptible and resistant strains of laboratory mice infected with Borrelia burgdorferi. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1992 Aug;47(2):249–258. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1992.47.249. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barbour A. G., Tessier S. L., Hayes S. F. Variation in a major surface protein of Lyme disease spirochetes. Infect Immun. 1984 Jul;45(1):94–100. doi: 10.1128/iai.45.1.94-100.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Benach J. L., Coleman J. L., Skinner R. A., Bosler E. M. Adult Ixodes dammini on rabbits: a hypothesis for the development and transmission of Borrelia burgdorferi. J Infect Dis. 1987 Jun;155(6):1300–1306. doi: 10.1093/infdis/155.6.1300. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Lyme disease surveillance--United States, 1989-1990. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 1991 Jun 28;40(25):417–421. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Eiffert H., Ohlenbusch A., Fehling W., Lotter H., Thomssen R. Nucleotide sequence of the ospAB operon of a Borrelia burgdorferi strain expressing OspA but not OspB. Infect Immun. 1992 May;60(5):1864–1868. doi: 10.1128/iai.60.5.1864-1868.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Fikrig E., Barthold S. W., Kantor F. S., Flavell R. A. Protection of mice against the Lyme disease agent by immunizing with recombinant OspA. Science. 1990 Oct 26;250(4980):553–556. doi: 10.1126/science.2237407. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Fikrig E., Barthold S. W., Kantor F. S., Flavell R. A. Protection of mice from Lyme borreliosis by oral vaccination with Escherichia coli expressing OspA. J Infect Dis. 1991 Dec;164(6):1224–1227. doi: 10.1093/infdis/164.6.1224. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Fikrig E., Barthold S. W., Marcantonio N., Deponte K., Kantor F. S., Flavell R. A. Roles of OspA, OspB, and flagellin in protective immunity to Lyme borreliosis in laboratory mice. Infect Immun. 1992 Feb;60(2):657–661. doi: 10.1128/iai.60.2.657-661.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Fikrig E., Barthold S. W., Persing D. H., Sun X., Kantor F. S., Flavell R. A. Borrelia burgdorferi strain 25015: characterization of outer surface protein A and vaccination against infection. J Immunol. 1992 Apr 1;148(7):2256–2260. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Fikrig E., Telford S. R., 3rd, Barthold S. W., Kantor F. S., Spielman A., Flavell R. A. Elimination of Borrelia burgdorferi from vector ticks feeding on OspA-immunized mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Jun 15;89(12):5418–5421. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.12.5418. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Jonsson M., Noppa L., Barbour A. G., Bergström S. Heterogeneity of outer membrane proteins in Borrelia burgdorferi: comparison of osp operons of three isolates of different geographic origins. Infect Immun. 1992 May;60(5):1845–1853. doi: 10.1128/iai.60.5.1845-1853.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Postic D., Edlinger C., Richaud C., Grimont F., Dufresne Y., Perolat P., Baranton G., Grimont P. A. Two genomic species in Borrelia burgdorferi. Res Microbiol. 1990 May;141(4):465–475. doi: 10.1016/0923-2508(90)90072-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Rogers B. B., Josephson S. L., Mak S. K. Detection of herpes simplex virus using the polymerase chain reaction followed by endonuclease cleavage. Am J Pathol. 1991 Jul;139(1):1–6. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Stanek G., Jurkowitsch B., Köchl C., Burger I., Khanakha G. Reactivity of European and American isolates of Borrelia burgdorferi with different monoclonal antibodies by means of a microimmunoblot technique. Zentralbl Bakteriol. 1990 Apr;272(4):426–436. doi: 10.1016/s0934-8840(11)80043-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Sădziene A., Rosa P. A., Thompson P. A., Hogan D. M., Barbour A. G. Antibody-resistant mutants of Borrelia burgdorferi: in vitro selection and characterization. J Exp Med. 1992 Sep 1;176(3):799–809. doi: 10.1084/jem.176.3.799. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Telford S. R., 3rd, Spielman A. Enzootic transmission of the agent of Lyme disease in rabbits. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 1989 Oct;41(4):482–490. doi: 10.4269/ajtmh.1989.41.482. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Wilske B., Preac-Mursic V., Schierz G., Kühbeck R., Barbour A. G., Kramer M. Antigenic variability of Borrelia burgdorferi. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1988;539:126–143. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1988.tb31846.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Experimental Medicine are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES