Open AccessThe Borrelial Fibronectin-Binding Protein RevA Is an Early Antigen of Human Lyme Disease
Author(s) -
Catherine A. Brissette,
Evelyn Rossmann,
Amy Bowman,
Anne Cooley,
Sean P. Riley,
Klaus-Peter Hunfeld,
Michael Bechtel,
Peter Kraiczy,
Brian Stevenson
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
clinical and vaccine immunology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.649
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1556-6811
pISSN - 1556-679X
DOI - 10.1128/cvi.00437-09
Subject(s) - lyme disease , borrelia burgdorferi , biology , serology , antibody , borrelia , immunology , antigen , recombinant dna , spirochaetaceae , virology , gene , genetics
Previous studies using small numbers of serum samples from human patients and experimentally infected animals identified the frequent presence of antibodies recognizing RevA, a borrelial fibronectin-binding outer surface protein. We now demonstrate that most examined Lyme disease spirochetes from North America and Europe contain genes encoding RevA proteins, some with extensive regions of conservation and others with moderate diversity. Line blot analyses using recombinant RevA from two diverse Lyme disease spirochetes of RevA and serum samples from culture-confirmed human Lyme disease patients from the United States (n = 46, mainly with early Lyme disease) and Germany (>500, with early and late manifestations of Lyme disease) were performed. The results indicated that a sizable proportion of patients produced antibodies that recognized recombinant RevA. Overall, RevA-based serological studies were less sensitive and less specific than other assay types, such as the VlsE-based C6 peptide assay. However, sera from patients in the initial stages of Lyme disease contained antibodies against RevA, demonstrating that this protein is expressed early in human infection. Thus, RevA may be a useful target for preventative or curative therapies.