[Concentration of sFas and sFasL in the supernatant of PBMC culture from the patients with late lyme borreliosis].

OBJECTIVE

Persistent, inadequate inflammatory response present in late Lyme borreliosis may be driven by activated T lymphocytes. We estimated synthesis of extracellular proteins: soluble Fas receptor (sFas) and its ligand (sFasL), which might protect T lymphocytes from physiologic apoptosis, in the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) culture from patients with late borreliosis.

METHODS

Lyme borreliosis group (LB) consisted of 20 patients with Lyme borreliosis present for >6 months. Six patients without any active infection constituted the control group (K). PBMC were incubated for 7 days with phytohemaglutinine or suspension of Borrelia afzeli (Ba), B. garinii (Bg) and B. burgdorferi sensu stricto (Bss) spirochetes. sFas and sFasL concentrations were measured in the culture supernatant with ELISA.

RESULTS

In LB mean sFasL concentration was increased significantly under stimulation with phytohemaglutinine, Ba and Bg, and, with borderline significance, with Bss, in comparison with unstimulated culture. sFas also tended to increase, which was significant with phytohemaglutinine and borderline with Bg. In K sFas and sFasL was not significantly increased under antigenic stimulation.

CONCLUSIONS

Increased synthesis of antiapoptotic factors by PBMC from patients with late borreliosis incubated with B. burgdorferi antigens may suggest impaired apoptosis of T lymphocytes contributing to persistent inflammatory response in this patients.