Diagnosing borelliosis by detecting specific antibodies, using new Borellia antigens expressed preferentially during infection and also useful as immunogens in vaccines

摘要

Diagnosis of borelliosis by detecting anti-Borellia antibodies (Ab) using a detection reagent (A) that contains many Borrelia antigens (Ag). Ag: (i) react with anti-Borellia immune serum from infected animals; (ii) are not expressed, or only weakly expressed, by Borellia cultured in vitro and (iii) are strongly expressed by Borellia cultured in vivo. Independent claims are also included for the following: (1) cells that express at least one Ag of molecular weight (measured in a polyacrylamide-sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) gel) of about 9.5, 18, 19, 30, 32, 33, 62, 70, 80, 90, 100 and/or 102 kD; (2) lysates of these cells; (3) immunogenic fractions of the cells of (a) or the lysate of (b) that contain at least one Ag; (d) Ag as defined in (a); (4) reagent kit for detecting Ab comprising, apart from other test components, several Ag; (5) immunogenic composition containing at least one Ag of (a); (6) nucleic acid (I) encoding Ag; (7) recombinant vector containing at least one copy of (I); and (8) immunogenic composition containing (I) or the vector of (h).