Lyme Borreliosis is an infectious disease caused by the spirochete
Borrelia burgdorferi that is transmitted through the bite of infected ticks. Both B cell-mediated humoral immunity and T cell immunity develop during natural
Borrelia infection. However, compared with humoral immunity, the T cell
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Lyme Borreliosis is an infectious disease caused by the spirochete
Borrelia burgdorferi that is transmitted through the bite of infected ticks. Both B cell-mediated humoral immunity and T cell immunity develop during natural
Borrelia infection. However, compared with humoral immunity, the T cell response to
Borrelia infection has not been well elucidated. In this study, a novel T cell-based assay was developed and validated for the sensitive detection of antigen-specific T cell response to
B. burgdorferi. Using interferon-g as a biomarker, we developed a new enzyme-linked immunospot method (iSpot Lyme™) to detect
Borrelia antigen-specific effector/memory T cells that were activated
in vivo by exposing them to recombinant
Borrelia antigens
ex vivo. To test this new method as a potential laboratory diagnostic tool, we performed a clinical study with a cohort of
Borrelia positive patients and healthy controls. We demonstrated that the iSpot Lyme assay has a significantly higher specificity and sensitivity compared with the Western Blot assay that is currently used as a diagnostic measure. A comprehensive evaluation of the T cell response to
Borrelia infection should, therefore, provide new insights into the pathogenesis, diagnosis, treatment and monitoring of Lyme disease.
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