Re: B. Burgdorferi and SD--abstract

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borrelia burdorferi is LYME DISEASE!!! SEE MAY ISSUE OF ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

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rheumatic B. Burgdorferi and SD--abstract

>Lymphoproliferative responses to Borrelia burgdorferi in circumscribed

>scleroderma.

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>Br J Dermatol 1996 Feb;134(2):285-91 (ISSN: 0007-0963)

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>Breier P; Klade H; Stanek G; Poitschek C; Kirnbauer R; Dorda W; Aberer E

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>Department of Dermatology, University of Vienna, Austria.

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>Humoral immune responses to Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) have been reported to

>occur in certain patients with circumscribed scleroderma (CS) (morphoea).

>Together with the isolation of spirochaetes from CS skin biopsies, this

>finding was taken to suggest Bb as the aetiological agent of CS. Since

there

>is cellular immunoreactivity to Bb in patients with chronic Lyme

borreliosis

>(LB), Bb-specific lymphocytic responses were tested in patients with CS.

For

>this purpose, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from CS patients and, as

>controls, from patients with various manifestations of LB, and from healthy

>volunteers without any evidence of Bb infection, were exposed to Bb

>organisms for 5 days and then assayed for DNA synthesis. Stimulation

indices

>(SI) > 10 were scored positive. By performing lymphocyte proliferation

tests

>we found: (i) that not only patients with various manifestations of LB but

>also a considerable percentage of seropositive (five of 13 = 38%) and

>seronegative (six of 26 = 23%) CS patients exhibit an elevated Bb-induced

>lymphocyte proliferation; (ii) that the magnitude of the cellular response

>seen in CS patients is comparable to that encountered in patients with

>established Bb manifestations; and (iii) that, within a given patient,

>antibiotic therapy can result in a significant reduction of this response.

>These results support a causative role of Bb in at least some CS patients.

>Bb-induced lymphocyte responses were also seen in both seropositive and

>seronegative erythema chronicum migrans patients. These findings show that

>the pattern of Bb-specific immune responses is more complex than previously

>thought, and underscore the importance of lymphocyte function assays in

>evaluating the diagnosis of potential Bb infection in seronegative

patients.

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