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YebC regulates variable surface antigen VlsE expression and is required for host immune evasion in Borrelia burgdorferi

ByCanLyme Team

Oct. 2020 PLOS PATHOGENS Abstract Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme disease pathogen causes persistent infection by evading the host immune response. Differential expression of the surface-exposed lipoprotein VlsE that undergoes antigenic variation is a key immune evasion strategy employed by B. burgdorferi. Most studies focused on the mechanism of VlsE antigen variation, but little is known…

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Tick-borne disease is multiple microbial in nature

ByCanLyme Team

Nov. 1, 2018 A study recently published in Scientific Reports discovered that 65% of Lyme disease patients irrespective of their disease stage respond to several microbes. As a consequence, the authors have demonstrated that microbial infections in individuals suffering from Lyme disease do not follow the “one microbe, one disease” status-quo. Moreover, the probability that…

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Scientists finally figured out why you rarely get sick in the summer

ByTeam

Ever wonder where colds get their name? Or why we’re all coughs and sniffles during the winter but are rarely sick in the summer? Turns out our genes change with the seasons, just like the weather. During the winter months, our bodies pump up the levels of many of the genes linked with inflammation, triggering…

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The immune system cannot generate immunological memory during infection with the Lyme disease agent B. burgdorfer

ByTeam

R.A. Elsner, S.W. Barthold, N. Baumgarth https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1043466613003542 Graduate Group in Microbiology and the Center for Comparative Medicine, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA, USA In vertebrates including humans, mice and dogs, the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) causes a chronic, non-resolving infection known as Lyme disease, which requires antibiotic treatment to clear the bacteria. Re-infections are common…