Variable serum immunoglobulin responses against different Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species in a population at risk for and patients with Lyme disease

Abstract

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato species display considerable antigenic polymorphism. In order to evaluate the importance of this antigenic heterogeneity in the serodiagnosis of Lyme disease, the serum immunoglobulin G response in 148 healthy individuals from an area in northern Sweden where Lyme disease is endemic and in 40 American patients with Lyme disease was assessed. In a seroprevalence study, the control group included 173 individuals from a region of northern Sweden where Lyme disease is not endemic. The two enzyme immunoassays used were based on outer membrane-associated proteins of either B. burgdorferi sensu stricto or Borrelia garinii. The Swedish populations were also screened for antiflagellum seroreactivity. The individuals from the area of endemicity were significantly more seropositive for the subcellular protein fraction of the local B. garinii isolate NBS16 than the control group (11.5 versus 2.9%; P = 0.005) but were not significantly more positive for the other antigens used. In contrast, American patients with Lyme disease were significantly more reactive against the North American B. burgdorferi sensu stricto strain B31 than against B. garinii NBS16 (57.5 versus 15.0%; P = 0.0001). Immunoblot analysis suggests that the borrelial outer surface protein C is involved in triggering the production of species-specific antibody during localized Lyme disease. We conclude that a species-specific immune response develops during infection with Lyme disease Borrelia spp. Thus, the reliability of a serological investigation of Lyme disease increases when one measures antibody titers against the outer membrane proteins of Lyme disease Borrelia spp. occurring in a particular geographic region.