P. Oschmann et al., RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI SPECIFIC IMMUNE-RESPONSE AND DIFFERENT STAGES AND SYNDROMES IN NEUROBORRELIOSIS, Infection, 25(5), 1997, pp. 292-297
One hundred untreated neuroborreliosis patients were investigated by I
gG/IgM immunoblot to find out if different stages and syndromes are ch
aracterized by different patterns of their Borrelia burgdorferi specif
ic immune responses in CSF and serum, Stage III (n = 10) was character
ized by a broad, highly specific intrathecal immune response (the mean
number of IgM bands in CSF was 3.1 and of IgG bands 6.3), All patient
s recognized one or more of the following proteins (p35, p21, p18) or
the 5 lid glycolipid. In contrast, the immune response in stage II (n
= 90) was less restricted (28%) and heterogeneous (mean number of IgM
bands 1.4 and of IgG bands 3.4), It was mainly directed against the hi
ghly crossreactive p41 antigen (91%), The different clinical features
of stage II were comparable regarding the intrathecal immune response,
However anti-glycolipid and anti-p35, -p21, -p18 IgG antibodies were
detected in a small subset of patients, mainly corresponding to more s
evere courses of the disease, Our data are compatible with a direct ag
ent related pathomechanism in neuroborreliosis, Antibodies against cer
tain proteins and the glycolipid of B, burgdorferi seem to have a prog
nostic value as to the development of more severe disease or transitio
n to stage III.