Recognition of multiple antibody epitopes throughout Borrelia burgdorferi p66, a candidate adhesin, in patients with early or late manifestations of Lyme disease

Antibody responses to p66, a candidate integrin ligand of Borrelia burgdorf eri, were studied in 79 patients with early or late manifestations of Lyme disease. The central portion of p66 was previously shown to contain all of the information required for specific recognition of beta (3)-chain integri ns, but work by others had suggested that the C-terminal portion of the pro tein contains a single surface-exposed, immunodominant loop. In examining a ntibody responses to full-length p66 and to three overlapping fragments of the protein, we found that the majority of Lyme disease patients had immuno globulin M (IgM) and/or IgG responses to p66 and that, particularly early i n the disease, epitopes throughout p66 were recognized. Among patients with later manifestations of the illness, antibody responses to the C-terminal portion of the protein were more prominent. These results demonstrate that Lyme disease patient sera recognize epitopes throughout p66.