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Infection and Immunity, October 2004, p. 5759-5767, Vol. 72, No. 10
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.10.5759-5767.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Borrelia burgdorferi Changes Its Surface Antigenic Expression in Response to Host Immune Responses

Fang Ting Liang,1 Jun Yan,1 M. Lamine Mbow,2 Steven L. Sviat,3 Robert D. Gilmore,3 Mark Mamula,1 and Erol Fikrig1*

Section of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut,1 Centocor, Inc., Malvern, Pennsylvania,2 Bacterial Zoonoses Branch, Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado3

Received 7 May 2004/ Returned for modification 17 June 2004/ Accepted 25 June 2004

The Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, causes persistent mammalian infection despite the development of vigorous immune responses against the pathogen. To examine spirochetal phenotypes that dominate in the hostile immune environment, the mRNA transcripts of four prototypic surface lipoproteins, decorin-binding protein A (DbpA), outer surface protein C (OspC), BBF01, and VlsE, were analyzed by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR under various immune conditions. We demonstrate that B. burgdorferi changes its surface antigenic expression in response to immune attack. dbpA expression was unchanged while the spirochetes decreased ospC expression by 446 times and increased BBF01 and vlsE expression up to 20 and 32 times, respectively, under the influence of immune pressure generated in immunocompetent mice during infection. This change in antigenic expression could be induced by passively immunizing infected severe combined immunodeficiency mice with specific Borrelia antisera or OspC antibody and appears to allow B. burgdorferi to resist immune attack.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Section of Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, S525A, 300 Cedar St., New Haven, CT 06520-8031. Phone: (203) 785-2453. Fax: (203) 785-7053. E-mail: erol.fikrig{at}yale.edu.

Editor: D. L. Burns

Infection and Immunity, October 2004, p. 5759-5767, Vol. 72, No. 10
0019-9567/04/$08.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.72.10.5759-5767.2004
Copyright © 2004, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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