Affiliation:
1. Graduate Program in Molecular Microbiology, Tufts University, Boston, Massachusetts
2. Division of Infectious Diseases, and Center for Infectious Disease Research, Medical College of Wisconsin, 8701 Watertown Plank Rd., Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53226
Abstract
ABSTRACT
The
Borrelia burgdorferi
surface lipoprotein OspC is a critical virulence factor, but its precise role in the establishment of
B. burgdorferi
infection remains unclear. To determine whether OspC affects the host response at the site of inoculation of the bacterium, the recruitment of macrophages and neutrophils and the production of cytokines were examined at the site of infection by wild-type,
ospC
mutant, and complemented mutant
B. burgdorferi
strains. Of the 21 cytokines tested, monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), keratinocyte-derived chemokine (KC, CXCL1), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) were found at increased levels at the site of inoculation of
B. burgdorferi
, and the levels varied with the production of OspC at one or more time points over the 1-week course of infection. The kinetics of expression and the dependence on OspC production by
B. burgdorferi
varied among the cytokines. The production of KC and MCP-1, and the appearance of monocytic infiltrates, correlated with the presence of the bacteria rather than with OspC specifically. In contrast, VEGF production was not correlated simply to the presence of the bacteria and is influenced by the presence of OspC. In
in vitro
assays, OspC and
B. burgdorferi
expressing OspC stimulated the growth of endothelial cells more than did the controls. These data suggest the possibility of a novel role for OspC in the life of
B. burgdorferi
at the interface of its mammalian and tick hosts.
Publisher
American Society for Microbiology
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Immunology,Microbiology,Parasitology
Cited by
28 articles.
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