Researchers say they’ve identified a set of biomarkers that could make an early diagnosis of Lyme disease easier.
Lyme disease is a tick-borne infectious disease caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi and rarely, Borrelia mayonii. Left untreated, the infection spreads and can cause neurological, cardiac, and dermatological problems.
In the United States, an estimated 476,000 Americans are diagnosed and treated for Lyme disease annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Current testing to diagnose the disease is based on laboratory tests, which lack sensitivity, and clinical presentation, which varies between patients. Testing is flawed and false-negative results are common.
Some patients do not respond to treatment and develop more symptoms. This is called post-treatment or long-term Lyme disease, reports Frontline Genomics.
Patients usually get better over time, but it can take many months to feel completely well. Up to 20 percent of patients suffer from such long-term symptoms.
In a study published in Cell Reports Medicine, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, explain how they pinpointed a specific set of genes that are activated in people with long-term Lyme disease.
According to the Washington Post, the scientists sequenced the RNA of 152 patients with post-treatment Lyme disease. The condition’s symptoms vary, but they can include fatigue, brain fog, and pain for those who have received antibiotic treatment for Lyme disease.
They compared the data with RNA sequenced from 72 patients with acute Lyme disease — earlier symptoms, such as a rash or facial paralysis — and 44 controls without the infection.
Two interesting things stood out when the researchers analyzed the results. First, there was a distinct immune response in post-treatment Lyme disease compared to acute Lyme disease, which may provide insight into the disease’s underlying mechanism
Secondly, 35 genes were highly expressed in patients with long-term Lyme disease. And now that those 35 distinctive biomarkers have been identified, researchers say they plan to use the biomarkers to develop a diagnostic test that could identify the condition in other patients.
Professor Avi Ma’ayan, senior author of the paper said, “A diagnostic test for Lyme disease may not be a panacea but could represent meaningful progress toward a more reliable diagnosis and, as a result, potentially better management of this disease.”
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