Volume: 7 Table of Contents: I. LDF: Free Presentation on Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Disorders II. GRAEFES ARCH CLIN EXP OPTHALMOL: The laboratory diagnosis of ocular Lyme borreliosis. III. MOL MED: Interaction of Borrelia burgdorferi with peripheral blood fibrocytes, antigen-presenting cells with the potential for connective tissue targeting. IV. ARCH MED RES: Serologic evidences suggesting the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi infection in Mexico. V. INFECT IMMUN: Genetic control of experimental lyme arthritis in the absence of specific immunity. VI. ABOUT THE LYMENET NEWSLETTER Newsletter: *********************************************************************** * The National Lyme Disease Network * * http://www.LymeNet.org/ * * LymeNet Newsletter * *********************************************************************** Volume 7 / Number 06 / 23-JUN-1999 INDEX I. LDF: Free Presentation on Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Disorders II. GRAEFES ARCH CLIN EXP OPTHALMOL: The laboratory diagnosis of ocular Lyme borreliosis. III. MOL MED: Interaction of Borrelia burgdorferi with peripheral blood fibrocytes, antigen-presenting cells with the potential for connective tissue targeting. IV. ARCH MED RES: Serologic evidences suggesting the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi infection in Mexico. V. INFECT IMMUN: Genetic control of experimental lyme arthritis in the absence of specific immunity. VI. ABOUT THE LYMENET NEWSLETTER =====*===== I. LDF: Free Presentation on Lyme Disease and Other Tick-Borne Disorders ----------------------------------------------------------------- Sender: The Lyme Disease Foundation <[email protected]> The Lyme Disease Foundation will sponsor a free presentation on Lyme disease and other tick-borne disorders at: Rowan University Student Health Ctr - Linden 201 Mullica Hill Rd Glasboro, NJ Thursday, July 8, 1999 7 to 10 pm Among the presentations: "Diagnosis & Treatment of Lyme Disease, Ehrlichiosis, and Babesiosis" Tony Lionetti, MD - Practitioner - Researcher, New Jersey "Prevention and Educational Efforts for Your Community" Karen Vanderhoof-Forschner, MBA, CPCU, CLU CoFounder of the Lyme Disease Foundation Author, Everything You Need to Know About Lyme Disease. James Occi, Tick researcher Healthcare providers, patients, and the public are invited to attend! For more information contact the Lyme Disease Foundation at www.Lyme.org, [email protected] or call 860-525-2000. =====*===== II. GRAEFES ARCH CLIN EXP OPTHALMOL: The laboratory diagnosis of ocular Lyme borreliosis. ------------------------------------------------------------------ AUTHORS: Mikkila H, Karma A, Viljanen M, Seppala I ORGANIZATION: Department of Ophthalmology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland. REFERENCE: Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol 1999 Mar;237(3):225-30 ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: A study was carried out to evaluate indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunoblot analysis, and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the diagnostic work-up of ocular Lyme borreliosis. METHODS: Twenty patients with ocular Lyme borreliosis were examined. IgG and IgM antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi were measured by ELISA in serum, and in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) when indicated, and immunoblot analysis of B. burgdorferi IgG antibodies in serum was performed. A nested PCR was used to detect a segment of a gene coding for B. burgdorferi endoflagellin. The samples used in PCR testing were serum and CSF and in isolated cases conjunctiva and vitreous. RESULTS: Seventeen patients had elevated Borrelia antibodies in serum or CSF by ELISA. Seven patients, including two with negative ELISA, had a positive immunoblot. Seven of the 13 patients in whom PCR was examined during clinically active disease had a positive PCR result. Immunoblot analysis gave a negative result from the sera of five PCR-positive patients. CONCLUSIONS: For efficient diagnosis of ocular Lyme borreliosis, immunoblot analysis and PCR should be used in addition to ELISA. A positive PCR seems to be associated with a negative immunoblot. =====*===== III. MOL MED: Interaction of Borrelia burgdorferi with peripheral blood fibrocytes, antigen-presenting cells with the potential for connective tissue targeting. ------------------------------------------------------------------- AUTHORS: Grab DJ, Lanners H, Martin LN, Chesney J, Cai C, Adkisson HD Bucala R ORGANIZATION: Tulane Regional Primate Research Center, Covington, Louisiana, USA. [email protected] REFERENCE: Mol Med 1999 Jan;5(1):46-54 ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Borrelia Burgdorferi has a predilection for collagenous tissue and can interact with fibronectin and cellular collagens. While the molecular mechanisms of how B. burgdorferi targets connective tissues and causes arthritis are not understood, the spirochetes can bind to a number of different cell types, including fibroblasts. A novel circulating fibroblast-like cell called the peripheral blood fibrocyte has recently been described. Fibrocytes express collagen types I and III as well as fibronectin. Besides playing a role in wound healing, fibrocytes have the potential to target to connective tissue and the functional capacity to recruit, activate, and present antigen to CD4(+) T cells. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Rhesus monkey fibrocytes were isolated and characterized by flow cytometry. B. burgdorferi were incubated with human or monkey fibrocyte cultures in vitro and the cellular interactions analyzed by light and electron microscopy. The two strains of B. burgdorferi studied included JD1, which is highly pathogenic for monkeys, and M297, which lacks the cell surface OspA and OspB proteins. RESULTS: In this study, we demonstrate that B. burgdorferi binds to both human and monkey (rhesus) fibrocytes in vitro. This process does not require OspA or OspB. In addition, the spirochetes are not phagocytosed but are taken into deep recesses of the cell membrane, a process that may protect them from the immune system. CONCLUSIONS: This interaction between B. burgdorferi and peripheral blood fibrocytes provides a potential explanation for the targeting of spirochetes to joint connective tissue and may contribute to the inflammatory process in Lyme arthritis. =====*===== IV. ARCH MED RES: Serologic evidences suggesting the presence of Borrelia burgdorferi infection in Mexico. ------------------------------------------------------------------ AUTHORS: Gordillo G, Torres J, Solorzano F, Cedillo-Rivera R Tapia-Conyer R, Munoz O ORGANIZATION: Servicio de Infectologia, Hospital de Pediatria, Centro Medico Nacional Siglo XXI, IMSS, Mexico, D.F. REFERENCE: Arch Med Res 1999 Jan-Feb;30(1):64-8 ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne human disease in Europe and the United States. In Mexico, clinical cases suggestive of Lyme borreliosis have been reported; however, infection was not confirmed by serologic or microbiologic tests. METHODS: To study the prevalence of IgG antibodies against Borrelia burgdorferi among Mexican persons, a community-based sero-survey including all states of Mexico was done. A sample of 2,890 sera representing individuals of all ages and all socioeconomic levels was studied. Antibodies anti-B. burgdorferi were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) using a whole-cell sonicated extract of B. burgdorferi strain B31. Serum specimens positive for ELISA were further studied by Western blot (WB). A serum sample was considered positive by WB if at least three of the following protein bands were recognized: 18, 24, 28, 29, 31, 34, 39, 41, 45, 58, 62, 66, and 93 kDa. Some WB positive specimens were further confirmed with an immunodot-blot (IDB) test using recombinant and purified B. burgdorferi proteins. RESULTS: Of the 2,890 specimens, 34 were positive for ELISA; nine of these 34 were confirmed as positive by WB. Four of the nine WB positive sera were tested by IDB and all four were positive. The prevalence of WB confirmed cases in the sample studied was 0.3%. Positive specimens were from residents of the northeastern and central areas of Mexico. CONCLUSIONS: The serological evidences of this study suggest that Borrelia burgdorferi infection is present in the Mexican population. This finding should be confirmed by documenting the infection in clinical cases and in tick vectors. =====*===== V. INFECT IMMUN: Genetic control of experimental lyme arthritis in the absence of specific immunity. --------------------------------------------------------------------- AUTHORS: Brown CR, Reiner SL ORGANIZATION: Department of Medicine and Gwen Knapp Center for Lupus and Immunology Research, Committee on Immunology, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. REFERENCE: Infect Immun 1999 Apr;67(4):1967-73 ABSTRACT: Host genetics play an important role in determining resistance or susceptibility to experimental Lyme arthritis. While specific immunity appears to regulate disease resolution, innate immunity appears to regulate disease severity. Intradermal infection with Borrelia burgdorferi yields severe arthritis in C3H/He (C3H) mice but only minimal arthritis in BALB/c mice. Intradermal infection of immunodeficient C3H SCID mice also results in severe arthritis, but arthritis of only moderate severity in BALB/c SCID mice. In the present study, we examined immunodeficient recombinase-activating gene-knockout (RAG-1(-/-)) (RAG-) mice from resistant C57BL/6 (B6) and DBA/2 (DBA) mouse strains. B. burgdorferi-infected B6 RAG- and DBA RAG- mice had little or no ankle swelling, a low occurrence of inflammatory infiltrates in tibiotarsal joints, and low arthritis severity scores in comparison to RAG+ and RAG- BALB/c or C3H mice. Few differences in spirochete DNA levels in ankles of resistant and susceptible RAG- mice were seen. These data suggest that resistance to arthritis development following B. burgdorferi infection is not necessarily dependent on an acquired immune response and can occur despite the presence of high spirochete burden. Thus, genes expressed outside the specific immune response can be central regulators of experimental arthritis. =====*===== VI. ABOUT THE LYMENET NEWSLETTER ----------------------------------------------------------------------- For the most current information on LymeNet subscriptions, contributions, and other sources of information on Lyme disease, please refer to: http://newsletter.lymenet.org ----------------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the LymeNet newsletter, send a message to: [email protected] On the first line of the message, write: unsub lymenet-l ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LymeNet - The Internet Lyme Disease Information Source ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Editor-in-Chief: Marc C. Gabriel <[email protected]> FAX (for contributions ONLY): 908-789-0028 Contributing Editors: Carl Brenner <[email protected]> John Setel O'Donnell <[email protected]> Frank Demarest <[email protected]> Advisors: Carol-Jane Stolow, Director <[email protected]> William S. Stolow, President <[email protected]> The Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey ----------------------------------------------------------------------- WHEN COMMENTS ARE PRESENTED WITH AN ATTRIBUTION, THEY DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE OPINIONS/ANALYSES OF THE EDITORS. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- THIS NEWSLETTER MAY BE REPRODUCED AND/OR POSTED ON BULLETIN BOARDS FREELY AS LONG AS IT IS NOT MODIFIED OR ABRIDGED IN ANY WAY. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SEND ALL BUG REPORTS TO [email protected] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- |
Home |
Flash Discussion |
Support Groups |
On-Line Library © 1994-1999
The Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey, Inc. |