Brissette Catherine A, Rossmann Evelyn, Bowman Amy, Cooley Anne E, Riley Sean P, Hunfeld Klaus-Peter, Bechtel Michael, Kraiczy Peter, Stevenson Brian
Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Chandler Medical Center MN469, 800 Rose Street, Lexington, KY 40536-0298, USA.
Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2010 Feb;17(2):274-80. doi: 10.1128/CVI.00437-09. Epub 2009 Dec 23.
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.
先前使用少量来自人类患者和实验感染动物的血清样本进行的研究发现，经常存在识别RevA的抗体，RevA是一种疏螺旋体纤连蛋白结合外表面蛋白。我们现在证明，来自北美和欧洲的大多数检测的莱姆病螺旋体都含有编码RevA蛋白的基因，其中一些具有广泛的保守区域，另一些具有中等程度的多样性。使用来自两种不同莱姆病螺旋体的重组RevA以及来自美国（n = 46，主要为早期莱姆病）和德国（>500，有莱姆病的早期和晚期表现）的培养确诊的人类莱姆病患者的血清样本进行了线性印迹分析。结果表明，相当一部分患者产生了识别重组RevA的抗体。总体而言，基于RevA的血清学研究比其他检测类型（如基于VlsE的C6肽检测）的敏感性和特异性更低。然而，莱姆病初始阶段患者的血清含有抗RevA抗体，表明该蛋白在人类感染早期表达。因此，RevA可能是预防性或治疗性疗法的有用靶点。
