New Insights Into CRASP-Mediated Complement Evasion in the Lyme Disease Enzootic Cycle

Abstract

Lyme disease (LD), which is caused by genospecies of the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, is the most common vector-borne disease in the Northern hemisphere. Spirochetes are transmitted by Ixodes ticks and maintained in diverse vertebrate animal hosts. Following tick bite, spirochetes initially establish a localized infection in the skin. However, they may also disseminate hematogenously to several distal sites, including heart, joints, or the CNS. Because they need to survive in diverse microenvironments, from tick vector to mammalian hosts, spirochetes have developed multiple strategies to combat the numerous host defense mechanisms. One of these strategies includes the production of a number of complement-regulator acquiring surface proteins (CRASPs) which encompass CspA, CspZ, and OspE paralogs to blunt the complement pathway. These proteins are capable of preventing complement activation on the spirochete surface by binding to complement regulator Factor H. The genes encoding these CRASPs differ in their expression patterns during the tick-to-host infection cycle, implying that these proteins may exhibit different functions during infection. This review summarizes the recent published reports which investigated the roles that each of these molecules plays in conferring tick-borne transmission and dissemination in vertebrate hosts. These findings offer novel mechanistic insights into LD pathobiology and may facilitate the identification of new targets for preventive strategies against Lyme borreliosis.

ABO / Rh-D Blood types and susceptibility to Corona Virus Disease-19 in Peshawar, Pakistan

“…A similar result has been reported by Abdollahi et al 19 This variation from Chinese and Iranian studies may be explained on genetic clustering of susceptible loci which may vary among different ethnicities. 20 Another reason for the contradictory findings as compared to Zhao et al 9 , Li et al 17 and Fan et al 18 may be the homogenous sample of Chinese ethnicity in their studies.…”

“…Al 16 arrived at a similar conclusion when they analyzed published data relying on the status of Anti-A antibody. Zhao et al 9 , Li et al 17 and Fan et al 18 have reported equal representation of blood type-B in COVID-19 and control groups in their studies from Wuhan, China. A similar result has been reported by Abdollahi et al 19 This variation from Chinese and Iranian studies may be explained on genetic clustering of susceptible loci which may vary among different ethnicities.…”

“… 10 , 11 , 19 However, this contradicts the findings of studies from china. 9 , 17 , 18 and Pakistan. 21 The reasons for different findings as compared to Zhao et al 9 , Li et al 17 , and Fan et al 18 may be due to ethnic differences in study populations.…”

Structural and Functional Analysis of BBA03, Borrelia burgdorferi Competitive Advantage Promoting Outer Surface Lipoprotein

“…Such overlap of phenotype indicates a possibility that these proteins have similar or connected functions. This hypothesis is even furthered by the fact that, due to high genetic recombination rate, the functions of Borrelia OSPs often tend to overlap [ 7 , 38 ].…”

Gene design, optimization of protein expression and preliminary evaluation of a new chimeric protein for the serological diagnosis of both human and canine visceral leishmaniasis

“…Several studies have shown that serological diagnosis is the most appropriate approach to be used in endemic regions, since it is easy to use, non-invasive and rapidly generates results. However, despite the many choices available to be used in the field, no test so far is efficient enough to be used to diagnose the disease in both humans and dogs [6][7][8][9]. Among the serological methods currently used (DAT, IFAT, ELISA and immunochromatographic 40/2012 -Research in Neglected Diseases) (404259/2012-0).…”