1.
FEMS Microbiol Lett
; 183(1): 111-4, 2000 Feb 01.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-10650211
ABSTRACT
Decorin binding proteins DbpA and DbpB act as Borrelia burgdorferi (B. burgdorferi) adhesins to decorin, and are able to elicit a persistent antibody response in the mouse; accordingly DbpA protein would seem to be promising in immunoprofilaxis of Lyme borreliosis (LB). This study examines the distribution of Dbp epitopes in European strains of B. burgdorferi, of different genospecies and the presence of antibodies to Dbps in human sera from patients suffering from early and late LB, as revealed by immunoblotting. Different levels of expression of Dbp epitopes were found both among and within genospecies; data from human sera indicate that Dbps are expressed during infection though not as strongly as in the mouse infection.