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The aim of this project is to study the role of cellular immune response in patients with Lyme borreliosis (LB). Antibody determination is widely used method in the diagnosis of LB. However, it is of limited use during an early stage of infection because IgM antibody production is not detected until after 3-4 weeks after tick bite and IgG antibodies after eight weeks. Borrelia specific antibody respons is lacking in about 20% of patients with clinical signs of borreliosis. Prompt antimicrobial therapy aborts the develpoment of a mature humoral respons The failure of early antimicrobial therapy to completely eradicate the infection and the subsequent development of a chronic illness make this disease especially difficult to diagnose in patients who do not develop a mature antibody response. It shows that other methods should be useful, in combination with antibody testing, to diagnose and monitor LB. Some authors are confident that measuring of B.burgdorferi specific T cell response is of clinical value. Elucidating the cellular immune response to infectious agents is a prerequisite for understanding disease pathogenesis. In chronic infectious diseases such as LB, immune mediated damage adds to the effects of direct infection. It is important to know which mechanisms, cytokines and cell types are important for the clearance of the infection and which mechanisms potentiate harmful inflammatory responses. This knowledge will help to establish immune-modulatory therapy in the future to help patients with treatment-resistant chronic forms of LB. |