Ziel
Lyme Borreliosis is the most common tick-borne infection in Eurasia, large parts of China, Japan, and North America. The disease manifests itself as a multi-system disorder, which can affect a complex range of tissues including the skin, musculoskeletal system, heart, and nervous system, leading to arthritis, carditis, and neuroborreliosis. The availability of the complete genome sequence from Borrelia burgdorferi has enabled the search for antigens and vaccine candidates among the complete proteome of this pathogen. This knowledge together with the use of human serum antibodies and whole-genome libraries will be applied to identify the most promising vaccine candidates from Borrelia in a very short time and without the need of expressing a large number of recombinant proteins. Applying the powerful combination of state-of-the-art experimental technologies and bioinformatics, we propose to identify common antigens from Borrelia burgdorferi, gannii and afzeiii, which can function as targets for protective immunity preventing LB and as markers for serodiagnosis. The participating SMEs and RTDs maintain the highest quality of research and technology in their respective field, among them proven and renowned experts of LB and Borrelia. The anticipated results of this project will be of immediate benefit to the involved SMEs. Novel diagnostic markers can be exploited commercially leading to a new standard in clinical diagnosis, whereas a prophylactic vaccine can enter clinical testing after completion of this project. Further benefits include the development of marketable research tools, the creation of international networks and the publication of results in scientific journals. This work will add to the repertoire of intellectual property of the involved SMEs and further broaden the expertise of both, RTDs and SMEs. At last, the project will be of great societal benefit by its contribution to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease caused by Borrelia.
Wissenschaftliches Gebiet
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesneurobiology
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesbiochemistrybiomoleculesproteinsproteomics
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinerheumatology
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinepharmacology and pharmacypharmaceutical drugsvaccines
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicinetoxicology