Evidence That the Variable Regions of the Central Domain of VlsE Are Antigenic during Infection with Lyme Disease Spirochetes

Abstract excerpt

It has been postulated that the vls system of the Lyme disease spirochetes contributes to immune evasion through antigenic variation. While it is clear that vlsE undergoes sequence change within its variable regions at a high frequency during the early stages of infection, a definitive role in immune evasion has not been demonstrated. In this report we assessed the murine and human humoral immune response to...