Reservoir Targeted Vaccine Against Borrelia burgdorferi: A New Strategy to Prevent Lyme Disease Transmission

Abstract

A high prevalence of infection with Borrelia burgdorferi in ixodid ticks is correlated with a high incidence of Lyme disease. The transmission of B. burgdorferi to humans can be disrupted by targeting 2 key elements in its enzootic cycle: the reservoir host and the tick vector. In a prospective 5-year field trial, we show that oral vaccination of wild white-footed mice resulted in outer surface protein A-specific seropositivity that led to reductions of 23% and 76% in the nymphal infection prevalence in a cumulative, time-dependent manner (2 and 5 years, respectively), whereas the proportion of infected ticks recovered from control plots varied randomly over time. Significant decreases in tick infection prevalence were observed within 3 years of vaccine deployment. Implementation of such a long-term public health measure could substantially reduce the risk of human exposure to Lyme disease.

Live Attenuated Borrelia burgdorferi Targeted Mutants in an Infectious Strain Background Protect Mice from Challenge Infection

“…Unfortunately, few have generated long-lasting immunity or a response that is protective against the bacteria introduced by a tick bite, although others remain promising candidates. Several investigators have built on the success of the OspA vaccine and designed new-generation candidates that are multivalent or reservoir targeted (20,22,23,25,26).…”

“…A chimeric recombinant OspA vaccine candidate showed broad protection in a mouse trial (21). Other vaccination approaches have targeted reservoir animals (22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27).…”

Development of Oral Vaccines Against Lyme Disease

“…Lyme Disease, caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, is the most common vector-borne illness in the world [1]. In Europe and Asia, B. garinii, B. afzelii and B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (hereafter referred to as B. burgdorferi) are responsible for most human cases, whereas in North America B. burgdorferi is the sole cause of Lyme Disease [2,3].…”

“…In summary, the new disease estimates have peaked at unprecedented figures and Lyme Disease is now reaching epidemic proportions greater than ever anticipated, with annual cases estimated to be 6 times greater than the 50,000 new HIV infections in the U.S. [1,20]. Lyme Disease represents a growing health care and economic problem that has defied our attempts to control it.…”

“…Lyme Disease has become a serious and expensive public health problem, and has now reached epidemic proportions [1,14]. Yet, there is no vaccine available to protect humans from this illness, and thus novel vaccine strategies shall be developed.…”