Re: Ab and spirochetal disease

[Guest guest]

,

Is this the kind of things you are looking for?

Nelly

New method for detection of Borrelia burgdorferi antigen complexed to antibody in seronegative Lyme disease.Brunner M.http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=pubmed & dopt=Abstract & list_uids=11226475

J Immunol Methods. 2001 Mar 1;249(1-2):185-90.

Related Articles,

Links

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Department of Rheumatology, Abramson Research Center 1104D, 3516 Civic Center Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104-4318, USA. brunner@...Serologic tests for Lyme disease are problematic. Because of cross-reactive antigens Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) shares with other organisms, Lyme disease can be overdiagnosed. However, in addition to specificity problems, serologic tests for early Lyme disease can be falsely negative due to lack of sensitivity of ELISAs and Western blots. Most routine antibody tests are designed to detect free antibodies, and in early, active disease, circulating antibodies may not be free in serum but sequestered in complexes with the antigens which originally triggered their production. This difficulty may be overcome by first isolating immune complexes (IC) from the serum and using this fraction for testing. Free Borrelia-specific antibodies can then be liberated from the immune complexes which may enhance test sensitivity in patients with active disease. We developed a technique that captures the antibody component of IC on immunobeads, and subsequently releases the antigen component of IC. Immunoblotting with monoclonal antibody detected at least one antigen to be OspA, thus definitively demonstrating a Borrelia-specific antigen in circulating IC in early Lyme disease. This test is also useful in demonstrating Bb antigen in otherwise seronegative Lyme disease patients.PMID: 11226475 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

[infections] Ab and spirochetal disease

In syphilis as well, there is good evidence for the commonness of sero-negative or quite weakly sero-positive infection. Mattmans book says suggests all the Ab can be tied up in immune complexes (Ab-antigen complexes). She says this at least once without a ref and maybe again with(?) one. I have tried to find where she may(?) give the ref because I'd be very interested in seeing justifications of this idea. It seems likely to me that it would take something quite unusual to cause the body to fail to manufacture Ab to surplus - the price for that failure is too high. The ~1400 pathogens that infect humans all do something quite unusual, or they wouldnt be able to overcome our superb immunity. Still I'm skeptical of the immune complex theory. If the immune complexes are present in serum it may be possible to test the theory because there have now been developed techs which can dissociate at least some Ab-antigen complexes. Cant remember where I read about that.

[Guest guest]

Oh yeah, thats the very thing I read - I hadnt recalled that it

concerned lyme in particular.

This reminds me of something else I've read, which is that in lyme

arthritis the titers can be higher in synovial (joint) fluid than

they are in serum.

> ,

>

> Is this the kind of things you are looking for?

>

> Nelly

>

> New method for detection of Borrelia burgdorferi antigen complexed

to antibody in seronegative Lyme disease.

>

> Brunner M.

>

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve & db=pubmed & dopt=Abstra\

ct & list_uids=11226475

>

> J Immunol Methods. 2001 Mar 1;249(1-2):185-90.

> The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Department of

Rheumatology, Abramson Research Center 1104D, 3516 Civic Center

Blvd., Philadelphia, PA 19104-4318, USA. brunner@e...

>

> Serologic tests for Lyme disease are problematic. Because of

cross-reactive antigens Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) shares with other

organisms, Lyme disease can be overdiagnosed. However, in addition

to specificity problems, serologic tests for early Lyme disease can

be falsely negative due to lack of sensitivity of ELISAs and Western

blots. Most routine antibody tests are designed to detect free

antibodies, and in early, active disease, circulating antibodies may

not be free in serum but sequestered in complexes with the antigens

which originally triggered their production. This difficulty may be

overcome by first isolating immune complexes (IC) from the serum and

using this fraction for testing. Free Borrelia-specific antibodies

can then be liberated from the immune complexes which may enhance

test sensitivity in patients with active disease. We developed a

technique that captures the antibody component of IC on immunobeads,

and subsequently releases the antigen component of IC.

Immunoblotting with monoclonal antibody detected at least one

antigen to be OspA, thus definitively demonstrating a

Borrelia-specific antigen in circulating IC in early Lyme disease.

This test is also useful in demonstrating Bb antigen in otherwise

seronegative Lyme disease patients.