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Anti-neural antibody reactivity in patients with Lyme

By Linda on Sep 12, 2010 in Infections | comments(0)

Full article: http://www.aldf.com/pdf/Armins_Published_paper_in_Brain.pdf

Excerpt:

Some Lyme disease patients report debilitating chronic symptoms of pain, fatigue, and cognitive deficits despite recommended courses of antibiotic treatment. The mechanisms responsible for these symptoms, collectively referred to as post-Lyme disease syndrome (PLS) or chronic Lyme disease, remain unclear. We investigated the presence of immune system abnormalities in PLS by assessing the levels of antibodies to neural proteins in patients and controls. Serum samples from PLS patients, post-Lyme disease healthy individuals, patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, and normal healthy individuals were analyzed for anti-neural antibodies by immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry. Anti-neural antibody reactivity was found to be significantly higher in the PLS group than in the post-Lyme healthy (p<0.01) and normal healthy (p<0.01) groups. The observed heightened antibody reactivity in PLS patients could not be attributed solely to the presence of cross-reactive anti-borrelia antibodies, as the borrelial seronegative patients also exhibited elevated anti-neural antibody levels. Immunohistochemical analysis of PLS serum antibody activity demonstrated binding to cells in the central and peripheral nervous systems. The results provide evidence for the existence of a differential immune system response in PLS, offering new clues about the etiopathogenesis of the disease that may prove useful in devising more effective treatment strategies. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Tags: anti-neural antibody, Brain behavior, cognitive deficits, department of Neurology and Neuroscience, fatigue, immune system, immunoblotting, Immunohistochemical analysis of PLS serum, immunohistochemistry. Anti-neural antibody, Lyme borreliosis, Lyme disease, normal healthy individuals. anti-neural antibodies, pain, patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, post-Lyme disease healthy individuals

Lyme Encephalopathy

By Linda on Nov 29, 2009 in Infections | comments(0)

Encephalopathy is like fine art: Most people know it when they see it, but there is very little agreement on how to define it. At the 14th International Lyme Disease Conference, Brian A. Fallon, MD,[1] of Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, tried to do just that. More importantly, he described the different ways one can define encephalopathy, the strengths and limitations of each approach, and significantly, what other aspects of life can give the impression of encephalopathy where none exists. First, one must evaluate patients with persistent Lyme encephalopathy by asking the following questions:

Is the diagnosis correct?
Are there comorbid psychiatric disorders that could be treated better? Does the patient have a psychogenic medical illness? What was the patient’s response to prior antibiotics?
Was previous treatment adequate? How long was the course, and what was the route of administration? Was there a subsequent relapse Continued

Tags: abnormal brain scans, arthralgias, arthritis, borrelia burgdorferi, Brian A. Fallon, central nervous system, cerebrospinal fluid, cognitive deficits, cognitive testing, comorbid psychiatric disorders, concentration difficulties, confusion, cranial (facial) neuropathy, cranial nerve palsy, CSF, culture, Depression, DNA, EEG], electroencephalogram, encephalopathy, Erythema migrans, extraneural symptoms, fatigue, headache), IgG., International Lyme Disease Conference, intrathecal antibody, intrathecal antibody production, irritability, knee pain, Logigian, memory, memory loss, meningitis, mood disturbance, MRI, multifocal EM, myalgia, myalgias, neurocognitive impairment, neurologic abnormalities, oligoclonal bands, PCR, pleocytosis, polymerase chain reaction, protein, psychogenic medical illness, radiculoneuritis, single EM; cranial nerve palsy, single photon emission computed tomography, sleep disturbance, sleep problems, SPECT, stiff neck, stroke, tests, tomography, verbal fluency, WBC, word-finding difficulties

Lyme Encepalopathy

By Linda on Nov 29, 2009 in Infections | comments(0)

Encephalopathy is like fine art: Most people know it when they see it, but there is very little agreement on how to define it. At the 14th International Lyme Disease Conference, Brian A. Fallon, MD,[1] of Columbia University and the New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, NY, tried to do just that. More importantly, he described the different ways one can define encephalopathy, the strengths and limitations of each approach, and significantly, what other aspects of life can give the impression of encephalopathy where none exists.
First, one must evaluate patients with persistent Lyme encephalopathy by asking the following questions:

Is the diagnosis correct?
Are there comorbid psychiatric disorders that could be treated better? Does the patient have a psychogenic medical illness? What was the patient’s response to prior antibiotics?
Was previous treatment adequate? How long was the course, and what was the route of administration? Was there a subsequent relapse Continued

Tags: abnormal brain scans, arthralgias, arthritis, borrelia burgdorferi, Brian A. Fallon, central nervous system, cerebrospinal fluid, cognitive deficits, cognitive testing, comorbid psychiatric disorders, concentration difficulties, confusion, cranial (facial) neuropathy, cranial nerve palsy, CSF, culture, Depression, DNA, EEG], electroencephalogram, encephalopathy, Erythema migrans, extraneural symptoms, fatigue, headache), IgG., International Lyme Disease Conference, intrathecal antibody, intrathecal antibody production, irritability, knee pain, Logigian, memory, memory loss, meningitis, mood disturbance, MRI, multifocal EM, myalgia, myalgias, neurocognitive impairment, neurologic abnormalities, oligoclonal bands, PCR, pleocytosis, polymerase chain reaction, protein, psychogenic medical illness, radiculoneuritis, single EM; cranial nerve palsy, single photon emission computed tomography, sleep disturbance, sleep problems, SPECT, stiff neck, stroke, tests, tomography, verbal fluency, WBC, word-finding difficulties

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