Lyme borreliosis reinfection

georgia · medicine forum Guru Joined: 06 May 2005 Posts: 505

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?CMD=search&DB=pubmed

Immunology. 2006 Jun;118(2):224-32.

Lyme borreliosis reinfection: might it be explained by a gender
difference in immune response?

Jarefors S, Bennet L, You E, Forsberg P, Ekerfelt C, Berglund J,
Ernerudh J.

Division of Clinical Immunology, University of Linkoping,
Linkoping,
Sweden. sarja@imk.liu.se

Lyme borreliosis is a tick-borne disease often manifesting as a
circular skin lesion. This cutaneous form of the disease is known as
erythema migrans. In a 5-year follow-up study in southern Sweden, 31 of

708 individuals initially diagnosed with erythema migrans and treated
with antibiotics were found to be reinfected with Borrelia burgdorferi.

Although men and women were tick-bitten to the same extent, 27 of the
31
reinfected individuals were women, all of whom were over 44 years of
age. The aim of this study was to determine whether this discrepancy in

gender distribution could be a result of differences in immunological
response. Twenty single-infected and 21 reinfected women and 18
single-infected and three reinfected men were included in the study.
None of the participants showed any sign of an ongoing B. burgdorferi
infection, and thus the habitual response was captured. Lymphocytes
were
separated from blood and stimulated with antigens. The secretion of
interleukin (IL)-4, IL-6, IL-10, interferon (IFN)-gamma and tumour
necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent

assay (ELISA), enzyme-linked immunosorbent spot-forming cell assay
(ELISPOT) or Immulite. No difference was detected in cytokine secretion

between single-infected and reinfected individuals. We also compared
the
immunological response in men and women, regardless of the number of B.

burgdorferi infections. Women displayed a significantly higher
spontaneous secretion of all cytokines measured. The ratios of
IL-4:IFN-gamma and IL-10:TNF-alpha were significantly higher in women.
Gender differences in immune reactivity might in part explain the
higher
incidence of reinfection in women. The higher IL-4:IFN-gamma and
IL-10:TNF-alpha ratios seen in women indicate that postmenopausal women

have T helper type 2 (Th2)-directed reactivity with impaired
inflammatory responses which might inhibit the elimination of
spirochetes.

PMID: 16771857 [PubMed - in process]

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