Borrelia burgdorferi BB0172 (TTHc:PepB) derivative capacity for immunization: primer for “Enhanced protective efficacy of Borrelia burgdorferi BB0172 derived-peptide based vaccine to control Lyme disease”
Maria Bergquist
University of Minnesota Duluth
Chris Braun
University of Minnesota Duluth
Jubran Jindeel
University of Minnesota Duluth
Tyler Mosby
University of Minnesota Duluth
Abstract
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne illness in the United States. Despite decades of research, no vaccine for Lyme disease is available for humans. However, new research conducted at Texas A&M University (Hassan et al., 2019) appears to be moving us closer to a Lyme disease vaccine in the foreseeable future. The new vaccine consists of a peptide derived from an outer surface protein of Borrelia burgdorferi (PepB) conjugated to either Tetanus Toxoid heavy chain (TTHc) or Cross-Reactive Material 197 (CRM197). When the vaccines were given to mice via subcutaneous injection,the data showed that the TTHc:PepB vaccine resulted in a 66% protection rate against Lyme disease. Furthermore, after being exposed to B. burgdorferi the number of bacteria cultured from immunized mice was reduced by up to 80% when compared to control groups. While the TTHc:PepB vaccine seems to be highly effective, more research is needed in the field to further understand the processes by which the mice were immunized.
