From Persisting Borrelia to Chronic Lyme Disease: Vitality of Atypical and Persistent Forms of Lyme Disease Spirochetes

Tuesday March 23rd, 2021 - 3pm GMT / 4pm CET / 11am EDT

Duration: 30 minutes

Summary

Lyme disease (LD) is a tick-borne multisystem disorder caused by certain species of spirochetes from the Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato complex, that are transmitted to a human via a tick bite.

Multiple frontline antibiotics used today to cure early LD, are triggering the transformation of the spiral form of Borrelia into a variety of persisting forms.

The signals that the spirochete receives from hostile environments provokes morphological alterations that keep the pathogen alive and prevent it from being cleared by antibodies – leading to recurring and chronic cases of LD.

Hear from Dr Natasha Rudenko (Deputy Head of the Laboratory of Molecular Ecology of Vectors and Pathogens, Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre CAS) on how the identification of a new form of Borrelia led to the discovery of chronic Lyme Disease – and how this altered form may provide targets for new drugs and diagnostic tests.

What you will take away from the webinar:

• How antibodies at lower than therapeutic concentrations are triggering the transformation of Borrelia burgdorferi into a Persister subpopulation
• How the gene expression profiles differ in spirochetes
• The opportunities this persistent form could provide for new drug targets and therapies

This webinar has been made possible with the kind support of our partner, Thermo Fisher Scientific.