RESEARCH - Serum reactivity against Borrelia burgdoferi OspA in patients with RA

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Clinical and Vaccine Immunology, November 2007, p. 1437-1441, Vol. 14, No. 11

Serum Reactivity against Borrelia burgdorferi OspA in Patients with

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Yu-Fan Hsieh,1 Han-Wen Liu,1 Tsai-Ching Hsu,1 C.-C. Wei,2

Chien-Ming Shih,3 J. Krause,4 and J. Tsay1,2*

Institute of Immunology,1 Department of Medicine, Chung Shan Medical

University, Taichung, Taiwan,2 Department of Parasitology and Tropical

Medicine, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei, Taiwan,3 Department

of Pediatrics, University of Connecticut School of Medicine,

Farmington, Connecticut4

Abstract

Lyme arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis share common clinical features

and synovial histology. It is unclear whether they also share similar

pathogenesis. Previous studies have shown that the severity and

duration of Lyme arthritis correlate directly with serum

concentrations of antibody against outer surface protein A (OspA) of

the causative pathogen Borrelia burgdorferi. We tested the sera of 68

subjects with rheumatoid arthritis, 147 subjects with other autoimmune

diseases, and 44 healthy subjects who had never had Lyme disease, as

well as sera of 16 patients who had Lyme disease, for reactivity

against the B. burgdorferi OspA protein. The sera of about a quarter

of the rheumatoid arthritis patients and a 10th of the autoimmune

disease and Lyme disease patients reacted against OspA antigen. Of 50

rheumatoid arthritis patients who could be evaluated for disease

severity, a 28-joint count disease activity score of >2.6 was noted

for 11 of 15 (73%) patients whose sera reacted against OspA antigen

and 13 of 35 (37%; P < 0.05) whose sera were nonreactive. Serum

reactivity against OspA antigen is associated with the pathogenesis of

rheumatoid arthritis.

http://cvi.asm.org/cgi/content/full/14/11/1437?view=long & pmid=17881508

Not an MD