This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Porcella, S. F.
Right arrow Articles by Schwan, T. G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Porcella, S. F.
Right arrow Articles by Schwan, T. G.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 2000, p. 3561-3571, Vol. 38, No. 10
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0

Serodiagnosis of Louse-Borne Relapsing Fever with Glycerophosphodiester Phosphodiesterase (GlpQ) from Borrelia recurrentis

Stephen F. Porcella,1 Sandra J. Raffel,1 Merry E. Schrumpf,1 Martin E. Schriefer,2 David T. Dennis,2 and Tom G. Schwan1,*

Laboratory of Human Bacterial Pathogenesis, Rocky Mountain Laboratories, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Hamilton, Montana 59840,1 and Division of Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases, National Center for Infectious Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Fort Collins, Colorado 805222

Received 20 March 2000/Returned for modification 2 June 2000/Accepted 28 July 2000

Human louse-borne relapsing fever occurs in sporadic outbreaks in central and eastern Africa that are characterized by significant morbidity and mortality. Isolates of the causative agent, Borrelia recurrentis, were obtained from the blood of four patients during a recent epidemic of the disease in southern Sudan. The glpQ gene, encoding glycerophosphodiester phosphodiesterase, from these isolates was sequenced and compared with the glpQ sequences obtained from other relapsing-fever spirochetes. Previously we showed that GlpQ of Borrelia hermsii is an immunogenic protein with utility as a serological test antigen for discriminating tick-borne relapsing fever from Lyme disease. In the present work, we cloned and expressed the glpQ gene from B. recurrentis and used recombinant GlpQ in serological tests. Acute- and convalescent-phase serum samples obtained from 42 patients with louse-borne relapsing fever were tested with an indirect immunofluorescence assay (IFA) and an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) that used whole cells of B. recurrentis and with immunoblotting to whole-cell lysates of the spirochete and Escherichia coli producing recombinant GlpQ. The geometric mean titers of the acute- and convalescent-phase serum samples measured by IFA were 1:83 and 1:575, respectively. The immunoblot analysis identified a high level of reactivity and seroconversion to GlpQ, and the assay was more sensitive than the whole-cell IFA and ELISA using purified, recombinant histidine-tagged GlpQ. Serum antibodies to GlpQ and other antigens persisted for 27 years in one patient. We conclude that assessment of anti-GlpQ antibodies will allow serological confirmation of louse-borne relapsing fever and determination of disease prevalence.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Rocky Mountain Laboratories, 903 S. Fourth St., Hamilton, MT 59840. Phone: (406) 363-9250. Fax: (406) 363-9445. E-mail: tom_schwan{at}nih.gov.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, October 2000, p. 3561-3571, Vol. 38, No. 10
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Tilly, K., Bestor, A., Dulebohn, D. P., Rosa, P. A. (2009). OspC-Independent Infection and Dissemination by Host-Adapted Borrelia burgdorferi. Infect. Immun. 77: 2672-2682 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hasin, T., Davidovitch, N., Cohen, R., Dagan, T., Romem, A., Orr, N., Klement, E., Lubezky, N., Kayouf, R., Sela, T., Keller, N., Derazne, E., Halperin, T., Yavzori, M., Grotto, I., Cohen, D. (2006). Postexposure treatment with doxycycline for the prevention of tick-borne relapsing fever.. NEJM 355: 148-155 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Porcella, S. F., Raffel, S. J., Anderson, D. E. Jr., Gilk, S. D., Bono, J. L., Schrumpf, M. E., Schwan, T. G. (2005). Variable Tick Protein in Two Genomic Groups of the Relapsing Fever Spirochete Borrelia hermsii in Western North America. Infect. Immun. 73: 6647-6658 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Schwan, T. G., Raffel, S. J., Schrumpf, M. E., Policastro, P. F., Rawlings, J. A., Lane, R. S., Breitschwerdt, E. B., Porcella, S. F. (2005). Phylogenetic Analysis of the Spirochetes Borrelia parkeri and Borrelia turicatae and the Potential for Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever in Florida. J. Clin. Microbiol. 43: 3851-3859 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Guyard, C., Chester, E. M., Raffel, S. J., Schrumpf, M. E., Policastro, P. F., Porcella, S. F., Leong, J. M., Schwan, T. G. (2005). Relapsing Fever Spirochetes Contain Chromosomal Genes with Unique Direct Tandemly Repeated Sequences. Infect. Immun. 73: 3025-3037 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Bacon, R. M., Pilgard, M. A., Johnson, B. J. B., Raffel, S. J., Schwan, T. G. (2004). Glycerophosphodiester Phosphodiesterase Gene (glpQ) of Borrelia lonestari Identified as a Target for Differentiating Borrelia Species Associated with Hard Ticks (Acari:Ixodidae). J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 2326-2328 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Fritz, C. L., Bronson, L. R., Smith, C. R., Schriefer, M. E., Tucker, J. R., Schwan, T. G. (2004). Isolation and Characterization of Borrelia hermsii Associated with Two Foci of Tick-Borne Relapsing Fever in California. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 1123-1128 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Schwan, T. G., Battisti, J. M., Porcella, S. F., Raffel, S. J., Schrumpf, M. E., Fischer, E. R., Carroll, J. A., Stewart, P. E., Rosa, P., Somerville, G. A. (2003). Glycerol-3-Phosphate Acquisition in Spirochetes: Distribution and Biological Activity of Glycerophosphodiester Phosphodiesterase (GlpQ) among Borrelia Species. J. Bacteriol. 185: 1346-1356 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Borner, G. H.H., Sherrier, D. J., Stevens, T. J., Arkin, I. T., Dupree, P. (2002). Prediction of Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-Anchored Proteins in Arabidopsis. A Genomic Analysis. Plant Physiol. 129: 486-499 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»