New
research has uncovered a mechanism by which the bacteria that cause Lyme disease
fight innate immune responses, and observed a never-before-seen phenomena
demonstrating the bacteria can spring back in the body weeks later.
Understanding this type of bacteria, one of only a few pathogens that can
actually persist in the body for long periods of time, has major implications
for treatment of tick-borne diseases like Lyme disease.
Researchers
have uncovered a mechanism by which the bacteria that cause Lyme disease
persist in the human body and fight the body's early, innate immune responses.
Dr. Utpal Pal, Professor in Veterinary Medicine at the University of Maryland
(UMD), has been studying the Borrelia
burgdorferi bacteria throughout his 12 years with UMD, and his work has
already produced the protein marker used to identify this bacterial infection
in the body. Now, Dr. Pal has isolated a protein produced by the bacteria that
disables one of the body's first immune responses, giving insight into
mechanisms that are largely not understood.
He
has also observed a never-before-seen phenomena demonstrating that even without
this protein and with the immune system responding perfectly, the bacteria can
spring back in the body weeks later. Understanding this type of bacteria, which
is among only a few pathogens that can actually persist in the body for long
periods of time, has major implications for the treatment of tick-borne
diseases like Lyme disease, which is an increasingly chronic and consistently
prevalent public health issue.
Dr.
Pal's research has shed some light on this issue and paved the way for future
research and treatment options by discovering that even without the protein
used to beat the first wave of immune defense, infection can reoccur in the
body weeks later.
See:
Posted by Dr. Tim Sandle
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Pharmaceutical Microbiology