Active immunization with pC protein ofBorrelia burgdorferi protects gerbils againstB. burgdorferi infection

Abstract

Serious infection due to Borrelia burgdorferi and the disseminated infection characteristic of the disease possess unique treatment problems. The wide and still increasing incidence of Lyme borreliosis as well as the problems in treatment call for effective prevention strategies by active immunization. Vaccination experiments were done to determine if active immunization of gerbils with recombinant OspA and pC protects against infection with strains of B. burgdorferi. Gerbils were vaccinated with recombinant OspA and pC (20 kDa protein) and challenged four weeks later with a clone (derived from B. burgdorferi strain PKo) which expresses an abundant amount of pC but only little OspA. Non-immunized gerbils challenged with the same B. burgdorferi strain were used as controls. Both groups of immunized gerbils developed antibodies against the recombinant vaccines. The pC vaccinated group was protected against infection, whereas the OspA vaccinated group showed signs of infection. The non-vaccinated group developed generalised infection. These results show that pC should be considered as a further vaccine candidate and probably needs to be combined with OspA for an efficient vaccine against B. burgdorferi.

Artificial‐infection protocols allow immunodetection of novel Borrelia burgdorferi antigens suitable as vaccine candidates against Lyme disease

“…Thus it is surprising that not only Ab (including OspC-, pG-, DpbA-and p35/37-specific Ab) that accumulate during natural infection but also Ab (such as OspAspecific Ab) that are hardly, if at all, detectable have the potential to protect mice against subsequent challenge [6,10,13,[16][17][18]. The fact that OspA-specific Ab, which block transmission of spirochetes by targeting and killing B. burgdorferi in the midgut of feeding ticks [10], are generated exclusively under artificial conditions emphasizes the notion that "efficient vaccines may need additional antigenic stimuli not available during natural infection" [1].…”

Borreliacidal activity of early Lyme disease sera against complement-resistant Borrelia afzelii FEM1 wild-type and an OspC-lacking FEM1 variant

“…Protection can also be provided either by active immunisation of animals with whole spirochaetes [2,3] or by vaccination with recombinant outer-surface proteins, especially OspA [4,5], OspB [2], OspC [6,7] and DbpA [8]. Recent investigations revealed that sera from patients at various stages of LD often display borreliacidal activity and these antibodies may play an important role in the host defence mechanism against borreliae [9±12].…”

Acquired resistance to Borrelia burgdorferi infection in the rabbit. Comparison between outer surface protein A vaccine- and infection-derived immunity.

“…The development and evaluation of an efficacious vaccine against this complex disease and its etiologic agent mandate a thorough understanding of spirochetal virulence and pathogenesis. Although characterization of B. burgdorferi surface molecules is far from complete, attempts have been made to develop effective vaccinogens using membrane lipoproteins (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24). The major focus has been on the most abundant of these lipoproteins, designated outer surface protein A (OspA), which has been shown to be predominantly located in the periplasmic space (25).…”