DOI
https://doi.org/10.25772/V5BP-JN65
Defense Date
2015
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Microbiology & Immunology
First Advisor
Richard Marconi
Second Advisor
Jason Carlyon
Third Advisor
Daniel Conrad
Fourth Advisor
Darrell Peterson
Abstract
Lyme disease (LD) is the leading arthropod-borne disease in North America with 300-600,000 cases each year. There are currently no approved human LD vaccines. Outer surface protein C (OspC) has emerged as a leading vaccine candidate and an attractive diagnostic marker due to its antigenicity and expression early in infection. Several chimeric, epitope based OspC derived proteins were generated. The constructs were found to be highly immunogenic in mice and vaccination induced complement-dependent bactericidal antibodies. These results suggest that a broadly protective polyvalent OspC epitope based vaccine can be produced. Currently, LD diagnostic approaches are unreliable and unable to differentiate between early and late stage disease. An Ab response to OspE family proteins occurs later in infection. The two-Ag diagnostic assay using chimeric OspC proteins and a site-directed mutant of an OspE paralog, accurately differentiated between early and late infection in experimentally infected canines and humans.
Rights
© The Author
Is Part Of
VCU University Archives
Is Part Of
VCU Theses and Dissertations
Date of Submission
5-12-2015