Sensitivity ofBorreliagenospecies to serum complement from different animals and human: a host–pathogen relationship

Abstract

Different Borrelia species and serotypes were tested for their sensitivity to serum complement from various animals and human. Complement-mediated Borrelia killing in cattle, European bison and deer was higher irrespective of the Borrelia species whereas in other animals and human it was intermediate and Borrelia species-dependent. Activation of the alternative complement pathway by particular Borrelia strain was in correlation with its sensitivity or resistance. These results support the incompetent reservoir nature of cattle, European bison, red, roe and fallow deer, at the same time present the probable reservoir nature of mouflon, dog, wolf, cat and lynx. In short, this study reviews Borrelia-host relationship and its relevance in reservoir competence nature of animals.

Inadequate Binding of Immune Regulator Factor H Is Associated with Sensitivity ofBorrelia lusitaniaeto Human Complement

“…Borreliae can activate complement by either the classical or the alternative pathway (4,6,57). To compare the contributions of the alternative and classical pathways to complement activation, each B. lusitaniae isolate was incubated in 10% NHS, 10% EGTA-chelated NHS (for specific inhibition of the classical pathway), or 10% EDTA-chelated NHS (for inhibition of both complement pathways).…”

“…Concerning the sensitivity pattern to human complement, B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, B. afzelii, and B. spielmanii are resistant, whereas all B. garinii spirochetes, except those belonging to OspA serotype 4, are highly susceptible to complement-mediated killing (2, 4-6, 19, 26, 33, 34, 57). Due to the limited number of isolates that have been tested (4,33), the resistance/sensitivity pattern of B. lusitaniae to human complement remains largely unknown. The association of B. lusitaniae with lizards as the most important reservoir hosts (13,46,58) implicates an adaptation of this genospecies to the hosts' complement system.…”

“…All B. lusitaniae isolates analyzed in the present study were readily killed by complement-active human serum, arguing for the inability of this genospecies to infect and survive in the human host. However, B. lusitaniae has been isolated from two Lyme disease patients, suggesting that it may have some pathogenic potential in humans (9)(10)(11) (4,6,19,27,34,57). As observed for B. garinii non-OspA serotype 4, B. lusitaniae strains also group with the serum-sensitive borreliae.…”

Delineation of Species-Specific Binding Properties of the CspZ Protein (BBH06) of Lyme Disease Spirochetes: Evidence for New Contributions to the Pathogenesis of Borrelia spp

“…B. burgdorferi, which produces the largest repertoire of FHBPs, is generally more complement resistant than B. afzelii and B. garinii (5,20,40). The relative contribution of each specific FHBP in complement evasion and pathogenesis has not been fully defined.…”

“…Among the Lyme disease spirochetes, B. burgdorferi displays the most complex FH binding phenotype, producing up to five different FHBPs belonging to three different protein families. B. afzelii and B. garinii, which are generally more sensitive to complement (5,20,40), produce fewer FHBPs. Some FHBP-encoding genes are environmentally regulated (10,26,31,39), and the proteins they encode have been shown to have differing binding specificities for members of the FH protein family (19,24,34).…”