Office of Technology Management
VMP-Like Sequences
of Pathogenic Borrelia
Summary:
An
inventor at UTHSC-Houston has identified and characterized an elaborate
genetic system in the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi that
promotes extensive antigenic variation of a surface-exposed lipoprotein,
VlsE. A 28-kilobase linear plasmid of B. burgdorferi B31 (lp28-1)
was found to contain a vmp-like sequence (vls) locus that closely resembles
the variable major protein (vmp) system for antigenic variation of relapsing
fever organisms. Portions of several of the 15 non-expressed (silent)
vls cassette sequences located upstream of vlsE recombined into the
central vlsE cassette region during infection of C3H/HeN mice, resulting
in antigenic variation of the expressed ipoprotein. This combinatorial
variation could produce millions of antigenic variants in the mammalian
host. Studies indicate that Lyme disease patients produce antibodies
against VlsE. It is anticipated that VlsE will be useful for vaccination
and for immunodiagnosis of Lyme disease.
Technology Status:
The
veterinary market to this technology has been exclusively licensed from
UT-Houston Health Science Center.
Patent Status:
Steven
Norris, Ph.D.
Publication:
Cell
89:275-285, April 18, 1997.