Reactivity of European and American isolates of Borrelia burgdorferi with different monoclonal antibodies by means of a microimmunoblot technique.

Ten European and 3 North American isolates of Borrelia burgdorferi were compared as to their reactivity with 9 mouse monoclonal antibodies (MMA) to the type strain B. burgdorferi B31, and 1 MMA directed against B. hermsii. A Treponema pallidum strain was used for a genus-specific control. Differences in the protein patterns of the European and the North American strains were mostly based on the absence of distinct OspA and OspB bands. The OspA MMAs H 5332 and H 3TS were reactive with 3 European and the 3 North American strains. H 5332 alone reacted with another 3 strains from Europe, the remaining 4 were not recognized by one of the OspA MMAs. OspB MMAs showed reactivity with 3 European and the 3 North American strains. Of the flagella antibodies MMA H 9724 and H 604 reacted with all strains, whereas H 6TS reacted just with 2 each of the European and North American strains. There was no reactivity at all with the B. hermsii monoclonal H 9E11. No MMA reacted with the T. pallidum strain. According to a proposal for a serotyping system based upon major surface proteins of B. burgdorferi by A. G. Barbour, 6 of the strains investigated belong to serotype I, 3 to serotype II, and 4 to serotype III. Reactivity with 4 MMAs to OspB allowed to establish 5 subtypes. The geographical origin of the strains seems to be in relation with respective subtypes, an observation which needs to be substantiated for a larger group of strains. The microimmunoblot technique proved to be a useful tool which saves material and time and yields reproducible results.