IMMUNOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR VARIABILITY OF OSPA AND OSPC - IMPLICATIONS FOR BORRELIA VACCINE DEVELOPMENT

Borrelia burgdorferi sensu late, the etiological agent of Lyme borreli osis is considerably heterogeneous in Europe, Since the outer surface proteins OspA and OspC are the most promising candidates for a Borreli a vaccine the immunological heterogeneity of these proteins was invest igated, By immunological analysis with monoclonal antibodies and seque nce analysis of PCR amplified OspA and OspC at least seven and 16 diff erent types, respectively, were found. Whereas skin isolates (n=68) we re quite homogeneous (84% belonged to OspA-serotype 2 or Borrelia afze lii), isolates from human cerebrospinal fluid and from ticks (n=43 and n=90 respectively) were highly heterogeneous in their OspA-serotypes with prevalence of the Borrelia garinii associated types (about 70%), OspA-type 4 was often found among isolates from cerebrospinal fluid (2 8%). In ticks type 4 OspA has not been detected by culture so far, How ever, as reported in a previous study, type 4 OspA could be detected i n ticks by the highly sensitive PCR technique.