Open AccessEvidence of Dbps (decorin binding proteins) among European strains of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato and in the immune response of LB patient sera
Author(s) -
Cinco Marina,
Ruscio Maurizio,
Rapagna Federica
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
fems microbiology letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.899
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1574-6968
pISSN - 0378-1097
DOI - 10.1111/j.1574-6968.2000.tb08942.x
Subject(s) - borrelia burgdorferi , decorin , bacterial adhesin , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , borrelia , epitope , antibody , sensu , spirochaetaceae , immune system , virology , immunology , biochemistry , extracellular matrix , ecology , proteoglycan , escherichia coli , gene , genus
Decorin binding proteins DbpA and DbpB act as Borrelia burgdorferi ( B. burgdorferi ) adhesins to decorin, and are able to elicit a persistent antibody response in the mouse; accordingly DbpA protein would seem to be promising in immunoprofilaxis of Lyme borreliosis (LB). This study examines the distribution of Dbp epitopes in European strains of B. burgdorferi , of different genospecies and the presence of antibodies to Dbps in human sera from patients suffering from early and late LB, as revealed by immunoblotting. Different levels of expression of Dbp epitopes were found both among and within genospecies; data from human sera indicate that Dbps are expressed during infection though not as strongly as in the mouse infection.