Immunoblot analysis of antibody binding to polypeptides of Borrelia burgdorferi in children with different clinical manifestations of Lyme disease.

We analyzed by means of immunoblot technique the patterns of antibodies binding to polypeptides of Borrelia burgdorferi B31 in the sera of 21 children with different stages of Lyme disease. All sera but one recognized the flagellar protein 41 kD and all but two the 83-kD protein. The number of proteins recognized rose from clinical stage I to stage III. The polypeptides of the mol wt 55 and 31 kD were exclusively bound by IgM and the proteins 66, 58, 39, and 36 kD exclusively by IgG. Based on the number of proteins visualized by single sera, IgM was the predominant isotype in stages I and II peaking in stage II, whereas in stage III IgG predominated. Considering the number of proteins recognized and the corresponding antibody isotype, a serologic differentiation between the three stages of the disease is feasible: within stage I and within stage III patients with different clinical signs had distinct antibody patterns. No clearcut pattern could be discriminated in stage II for patients with different settings. Immunoblotting yields a possible distinction between active infection and serological scar by the detection of specific antibody patterns.