New method for detection of Borrelia burgdorferi antigen complexed to antibody in seronegative Lyme disease

Serologic tests for Lyme disease are problematic. Because of cross-reactive antigens Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) shares with other organisms, Lyme disea se can be overdiagnosed. However, in addition to specificity problems, sero logic tests for early Lyme disease can be falsely negative due to lack of s ensitivity of ELISAs and Western blots. Most routine antibody tests are des igned to detect free antibodies, and in early, active disease, circulating antibodies may not be free in serum but sequestered in complexes with the a ntigens which originally triggered their production. This difficulty may be overcome by first isolating immune complexes (IC) from the serum and using this fraction for testing. Free Borrelia-specific antibodies can then be l iberated from the immune complexes which may enhance test sensitivity in pa tients with active disease. We developed a technique that captures the anti body component of IC on immunobeads, and subsequently releases the antigen component of IC, Immunoblotting with monoclonal antibody detected at least one antigen to be OspA, thus definitively demonstrating a Borrelia-specific antigen in circulating IC in early Lyme disease. This test is also useful in demonstrating Bb antigen in otherwise seronegative Lyme disease patients . (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.