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Antibody response in Lyme disease: Evaluation of diagnostic tests

Craft JE, Grodzicki RL, Steere AC1984The Journal of Infectious DiseasesJournal Article
10.1093/infdis/149.5.789PubMed
Immune/InnateMusculoskeletalNeurological
Lyme & Co-Infections

Abstract

The antibody response to the Ixodes dammini spirochete was determined in 41 serial serum samples from 12 patients with Lyme disease. By enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), 11 of the 12 patients had higher titers of specific IgM antibody (greater than 1:200) during early disease than did 40 control subjects. Specific IgM antibody titers, which correlated with total amounts of IgM antibody (P less than .001), sometimes remained elevated throughout the illness. During neuritis, nine of 10 patients had higher specific IgG antibody titers (greater than 1:200) than did controls, and when arthritis was present, all had such titers, which remained elevated after months of remission. In the ELISA, antibody responses determined by single or serial dilutions were similar, but the ELISA was more sensitive and specific than was immunofluorescence. Adsorption of sera with Borrelia hermsii generally resulted in a fourfold decrease in titers of cross-reactive antibodies, but the titers of sera from patients with Lyme disease were also reduced. Currently, the ELISA, without adsorption, is the best diagnostic test for Lyme disease.

Key Biomarkers

Borrelia burgdorferi antibodiesIgG antibody titersIgM antibody titers

Symptom Clusters

arthritisLyme encephalopathymemory impairmentneuritis

Cited By (15)

  • Prospective Study of Serologic Tests for Lyme DiseaseClinical Infectious Diseases · 2000
  • Recombinant immunoblot in the serodiagnosis of Lyme borreliosisMedical Microbiology and Immunology · 1993
  • Early and late antibody responses to full-length and truncated constructs of outer surface protein A of Borrelia burgdorferi in Lyme diseaseInfection and Immunity · 1995
  • Persistence of serum antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in patients treated for Lyme diseaseClinical Infectious Diseases · 1992
  • Antibodies against whole sonicated Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes, 41-kilodalton flagellin, and P39 protein in patients with PCR- or culture-proven late Lyme borreliosisJournal of Clinical Microbiology · 1995
  • Fatal adult respiratory distress syndrome in a patient with Lyme diseaseJAMA · 1988
  • The clinical evolution of Lyme arthritis

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  • References (5)

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