COMPARISON OF BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI ULTRASONICATE AND WHOLE BORRELIA-BURGDORFERI CELLS AS A STIMULUS FOR T-CELL PROLIFERATION AND GM-CSF SECRETION IN-VITRO

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from five patients with conf irmed Lyme borreliosis (LB) and from seven seronegative healthy subjec ts were incubated with ultrasonicated sterile-filtrated B. burgdorferi and with whole live Borrelia burgdorferi cells (strain RT1). PBMC cul ture conditions were 1 X 10(5) PBMC/well/ 10% autologous plasma (AP) a nd 2 X 10(5) PBMC/well/ 10% pooled human AB-serum (ABS). Recall antige ns and Pokeweed mitogen (PWM) served as specific and nonspecific contr ol stimuli. When whole B. burgdorferi cells were used as antigen, both the borreliosis patients (borr) and the healthy subjects (contr) reac ted with an elevated stimulation index (SI) and secretion of granulocy te-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in vitro (SI borr. = 4; Si contr. = 3,7. GM-CSF borr. = 3,1 U/ml; GM-CSF contr. = 5,4 U/ml) . A significant difference was observed when the B. burgdorferi sonica te was used. In this case, only the borreliosis patients reacted with an elevated PBMC proliferation and GM-CSF secretion (SI borr. = 6,1; S I contr. = 1,4. GM-CSF borr. = 7,6 U/ml; GM-CSF contr. = 0.3 U/ml) (p < 0,001).