The Platelet Fraction Is a Novel Reservoir to Detect Lyme Borrelia in Blood

Abstract

Serological diagnosis of Lyme disease suffers from considerable limitations. Yet, the technique cannot currently be replaced by direct detection methods, such as bacterial culture or molecular analysis, due to their inadequate sensitivity. The low bacterial burden in vasculature and lack of consensus around blood-based isolation of the causative pathogen, Borrelia burgdorferi, are central to this challenge. We therefore addressed methodological optimization of Borrelia recovery from blood, first by analyzing existing protocols, and then by using experimentally infected human blood to identify the processing conditions and fractions that increase Borrelia yield. In this proof-of-concept study, we now report two opportunities to improve recovery and detection of Borrelia from clinical samples. To enhance pathogen viability and cultivability during whole blood collection, citrate anticoagulant is superior to more commonly used EDTA. Despite the widespread reliance on serum and plasma as analytes, we found that the platelet fraction of blood concentrates Borrelia, providing an enriched resource for direct pathogen detection by microscopy, laboratory culture, Western blot, and PCR. The potential for platelets to serve as a reservoir for Borrelia and its diagnostic targets may transform direct clinical detection of this pathogen.

Clinical-epidemiologic and serologic characteristics of Lyme disease in the Zaporizhzhia region (a retrospective analysis for 2015–2019 according to the Municipal Institution “Regional Infectious Hospital” of Zaporizhzhia Regional Council)

“…The specific laboratory diagnosis of Lyme disease remains difficult. To date, the inexpediency of using bacteriological examination due to low sensitivity and slow growth of the pathogen has been proven [1,15,24,25]. Diagnosis of Lyme disease remains challenging even with the help of molecular genetic methods, because the sensitivity depends on the type and volume of biological material sample, the presence of polymerase chain reaction inhibitors due to contamination [26].…”

One health approach to study human health risks associated with Dermanyssus gallinae mites

“…To extract platelets from the whole blood, the method described by Sanderson et al [ 40 ] was employed. Platelet-rich plasma was separated from the whole blood by centrifugation at 120 g for 20 min.…”

Bacterial vampirism mediated through taxis to serum

“…Attraction to blood, serum, or plasma has been reported for some other bacteria, notably the blood-borne pathogens Borrelia, Treponema, and Leptospirosis, although the mechanisms that mediate attraction remain unknown (Haake and Levett, 2015;Lux and Shi, 2004;Sanderson et al, 2020;Tanno-Nakanishi et al, 2018). These bacteria do not possess the Tsr chemoreceptor.…”