Compositions and methods for diagnosing lyme disease and for predicting lyme disease spirochete elimination after treatment

Abstract

Compositions and methods are provided for detection, diagnosis and prognosis of Lyme disease (LD), including a method for confirmingspp. infection by contacting, in vitro, whole blood samples from subjects suspected of having LD with synthetic peptides comprising T-cell epitope-containing regions derived fromproteins that are expressed at different stages of Lyme disease, and indirectly detecting LD-specific activated T-cells by determining production of a T-cell immune response indicator (e.g., interferon-Y) in response to stimulation by the peptides. Also disclosed are methods for predicting elimination of LD spirochetes in LD patients who have undergone LD treatment, by exposing whole blood samples from such subjects to peptides comprising specific T-cell epitope regions ofproteins that are expressed at different stages of Lyme disease, and confirming a lack of-specific activated T-cells in the samples by the absence of a detectable T-cell immune response indicator (e.g., interferon-Y).