IMR Press / FBL / Volume 10 / Issue 1 / DOI: 10.2741/1581

Frontiers in Bioscience-Landmark (FBL) is published by IMR Press from Volume 26 Issue 5 (2021). Previous articles were published by another publisher on a subscription basis, and they are hosted by IMR Press on imrpress.com as a courtesy and upon agreement with Frontiers in Bioscience.

Article
Immune evasion of the Lyme disease spirochetes
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1 Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, 7703 Floyd Curl Drive, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA
Front. Biosci. (Landmark Ed) 2005, 10(1), 873–878; https://doi.org/10.2741/1581
Published: 1 January 2005
Abstract

The Lyme disease spirochetes, Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato, have adapted very well to both surviving and persisting in the mammalian host despite a strong host antibody response. It appears that both temporal and spatial regulation of outer surface proteins have contributed to this persistence. The spirochetes are able to bind fH and FHL-1 to their surface, resulting in decreased complement activation. In addition, the organisms have taken advantage of components of tick saliva to aid in their initial immune evasion and dissemination. Studies leading to these conclusions are reviewed here.

Keywords
Lyme disease
Borrelia burgdorferi
Osp
immune evasion
tick
Lyme disease spirochetes
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