Detection and preliminary characterization of circulating immune complexes in pa

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Title

Detection and preliminary characterization of circulating immune complexes in

patients with Lyme disease.

Author

Zhong W; Oschmann P; Wellensiek HJ

Address

Institute for Medical Microbiology, University of Giessen, Germany.

zhong@...

Source

Med Microbiol Immunol (Berl), 186(2-3):153-8 1997 Oct

Abstract

To investigate whether circulating immune complexes can be used as a disease

marker for assessment of the activity of Lyme disease and for monitoring

patients response to treatment, we tested 104 sera from patients with

different stages of Lyme disease using the C1q enzyme-linked immunosorbent

assay (ELISA) and a modified Raji cell test. Among 62 sera of patients with

clinically active disease 27 sera (43.5%) reacted positively in the C1q-ELISA

and 21 sera (33.9%) positively in the Raji cell test. In contrast, serum

circulating immune complexes were found in less than 10% of 42 sera after

antibiotic treatment. Similar results were obtained by both tests in 35

cerebrospinal fluid samples from patients with neuroborreliosis. Most

importantly, dot blot analysis revealed the presence of both Borrelia

burgdorferi-specific antigen(s) and host-derived components in the isolated

immune complexes from serum samples of patients with active Lyme disease.

These results indicate that detection of circulating immune complexes may be

an useful parameter for judging the activity of Lyme disease. Moreover,

preliminary characterization of spirochete-specific immune complexes implies

new pathophysiological aspects of Lyme disease.

Language

Eng

Unique Identifier

98067621

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MESH Headings

Antibodies, Bacterial BL ; Antigen-Antibody Complex *BL/IP ; Antigens,

Bacterial BL ; Biological Markers BL ; Borrelia burgdorferi IM ; Complement

IP ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Human ; IgG BL ; Lyme Disease *IM

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Publication Type

JOURNAL ARTICLE

ISSN

0300-8584

Country of Publication

GERMANY