C6 peptide-based multiplex phosphorescence analysis (PHOSPHAN) for serologic confirmation of lyme borreliosis

Abstract

Background A single-tier immunoassay using the C6 peptide of VlsE (C6) from Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (Bb) has been proposed as a potential alternative to conventional two-tier testing for the serologic diagnosis of Lyme disease in the United States and Europe. Objective To evaluate the performance of C6 peptide based multiplex Phosphorescence Analysis (PHOSPHAN) for the serologic confirmation of Lyme borreliosis (LB) in Russian patients. Methods Serum samples (n = 351) were collected from 146 patients with erythema migrans (EM); samples from 131 of these patients were taken several times prior to treatment and at different stages of recovery. The control group consisted of 197 healthy blood donors and 31 patients with other diseases, all from the same highly endemic region of Russia. All samples were analyzed by PHOSPHAN for IgM and IgG to Bb C6, recombinant OspC and VlsE proteins, and C6 peptides from B. garinii and B. afzelii. Results IgM and IgG to Bb C6 were identified in 43 and 95 out of 131 patients (32.8 and 72.5%, respectively); seroconversion of IgM antibodies was observed in about half of the patients (51.2%), and of IgG antibodies, in almost all of them (88.4%). Additional detection of OspCIgM and VlsE-IgM or IgG to C6 from B. garinii or B. afzelii did not contribute significantly to the overall sensitivity of the multiplex immunoassay.