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Lyme Neuroborreliosis: Evidence for Persistent Up‐Regulation of Borrelia Burgdorferi ‐Reactive Cells Secreting Interferon‐γ
Author(s) -
WANG W.Z.,
FREDRIKSON S.,
SUN J.B.,
LINK H.
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
scandinavian journal of immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.934
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1365-3083
pISSN - 0300-9475
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3083.1995.tb03713.x
Subject(s) - borrelia burgdorferi , neuroborreliosis , lyme neuroborreliosis , immunology , lyme disease , borrelia , cerebrospinal fluid , antigen , elispot , spirochaetaceae , medicine , pathogen , interferon , antibody , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , pathology , cd8
The T‐cell response to the aetiologic pathogen Borrelia (B.) burgdorferi in patients with Lyme neuroborreliosis (LN) and in control patients with other neurological diseases was examined by enumerating B. burgdorferi ‐reactive T cells secreting interferon‐γ (IFN‐γ) with an ELIspot assay. LN patients had elevated numbers of B. burgdorferi ‐reactive IFN‐γ secreting cells in blood and approximately 20‐fold enriched in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). A positive correlation existed in CSF between B. burgdorferi ‐reactive IFN‐γ secreting cells and B cells secreting anti‐ B. burgdorferi IgG antibodies. The up‐regulation of antigen‐specific IFN‐γ secreting cells persisted in peripheral blood up to at least 9 months and in the CSF for at least 4 months after termination of treatment with antibiotics, when the patients were mostly free from clinical signs and symptoms due to LN. How IFN‐ γ interplays with other cytokines and influences the pathogenesis of LN remains to be studied.