Dogs Vaccinated with Common Lyme Disease Vaccines Do Not Respond to IR₆, the Conserved Immunodominant Region of the VlsE Surface Protein ofBorrelia burgdorferi

Abstract

A 25-amino-acid synthetic peptide (C 6 peptide) derived from an immunodominant conserved region (designated IR 6 ) of the VlsE protein of Borrelia burgdorferi has been identified and used to construct immunoenzyme-based diagnostic procedures. These procedures have excellent sensitivity and specificity. Previous reports have demonstrated the usefulness of the C 6 peptide as an antigen for the serodiagnosis of human and canine Lyme disease. Results indicated that assays based on the C 6 peptide were nonreactive to sera from vaccinated nonexposed animals. The purpose of the present study was to confirm these results in a controlled trial by testing sera from experimentally vaccinated dogs known to be uninfected. Nine specific-pathogen-free beagles were assigned to one of three vaccine groups, each containing three dogs. Each group received one of three commercial Lyme vaccines: RECOMBITEK Lyme (Merial), LymeVax (Fort Dodge Animal Health), and Galaxy Lyme (Schering-Plough Animal Health). Each animal was administered a total of five doses of vaccine over a period of 39 weeks. Serum samples were collected prior to vaccination and then on a weekly basis from weeks 3 to 18 and from weeks 33 to 43. Selected samples were tested by the immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and the Western blot (WB) assay using whole-cell B. burgdorferi antigen extracts, and the results were compared to those obtained with two immunoenzyme-based procedures formatted by using the C 6 peptide. Serum specimens from all animals were reactive to the IFA and WB assay at week 5 and became highly reactive following the administration of multiple doses of vaccine. All serum specimens were uniformly nonreactive in the C 6 peptide immunoenzyme procedures at all time points throughout the study.

Current Surveys of the Seroprevalence of Borrelia burgdorferi, Ehrlichia canis, Anaplasma phagocytophilum, Leishmania infantum, Babesia canis, Angiostrongylus vasorum and Dirofilaria immitis in Dogs in Bulgaria

“…Positive test results are detected visually as blue-coloured spots. Two spots are impregnated respectively with a specific peptide antigen of B. burgdorferi sensu lato/ Bbsl (C6 peptide derived from the IR6 region within the Borrelia membrane protein VlsE; O'Connor et al 2004) and E. canis (peptides from p30 and p30 -1 outer membrane proteins; cross-reactive with Ehrlichia chaffeensis; Davoust et al 2006;O'Connor et al 2006). The D. immitis analyte is derived from two antibodies (one for capture and the other for detection) specific to heartworm antigens, which are primarily produced by adult females (Weil 1987;Bowman et al 2009;Chandrashekar et al 2010).…”

Quantitative Measurement of C 6 Antibody following Antibiotic Treatment of Borrelia burgdorferi Antibody-Positive Nonclinical Dogs

“…The B. burgdorferi antibody test is specific for antibody to the C 6 peptide. The SNAP 3Dx test does not react to antibody elicited following vaccination (7,15). The specificity of the SNAP 3Dx test was greater than 99.5% when the test was used with field samples from 987 dogs in North Carolina (4).…”

“…The C 6 B. burgdorferi synthetic peptide contained 25 amino acids from the IR 6 sequence found within the variable surface antigen (VlsE) of B. burgdorferi sensu lato (9). The peptide was synthesized as a multiple antigenic peptide with a four-branch lysine core (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA) by using standard 9-fluorenylmethoxycarbonyl chemistry as previously described (15). SNAP 3Dx test.…”

“…Production of antibody to the C 6 sequence appears to depend on the presence of a viable organism and has been used to accurately detect natural exposure of dogs to B. burgdorferi regardless of vaccination history (7,15,16). Decreased C 6 and VlsE antibody titers have been found in humans and experimentally infected dogs and primates treated for B. burgdorferi infection (13,16,17,18).…”

Borrelia burgdorferi Sensu Lato Species in Europe Induce Diverse Immune Responses against C 6 Peptides in Infected Mice

“…C 6 peptide-specific ELISA commercial test system. The Lyme Quantitative C 6 -antibody test kit (Lyme Quant C 6 Test; IDEXX Laboratories, Inc., Westbrook, ME) was used as a prescreening test for C 6 -specific antibodies (24,34). This test kit was originally developed for canine serum samples to measure the levels of C 6 -specific antibody in the sera of positive dogs.…”