2023-07-25 06:44:05
Lyme disease is caused by bacteria, Borreliacarried and transmitted by ticks, notably Ixodes ricinus in Europe and Ixodes scapularis in the United States and Canada. Despite much research, no vaccine against this disease is available. This is why INRAE researchers, in collaboration with ANSES and the National Veterinary School of Alfort, are proposing a new form of vaccination, indirect and targeting ticks, to fight against Lyme disease.
The concept relies on a vaccine that disrupts the tick’s microbiota1. For their experiments, the researchers injected the vaccine into mice. Specifically, they used another bacteria, harmless in this context, as a Trojan horse.
Once in the body, this harmless bacterium2 causes the production of antibodies by the mouse. If the mouse is then bitten by a tick, these antibodies interact with the tick’s microbiota and modify it.
Analysis of ticks after bite shows that they carry much less Borrelia than those that have bitten unvaccinated animals. This vaccine, when given to a mouse, “protects” the tick against colonization by Borrelia (but does not protect the mouse from the disease).
This work concludes with a double advance: new knowledge on the importance of the microbiota in the infection of ticks by Borrelia and a possible innovative vaccination strategy. Indeed, the results confirm that the tick microbiota is an essential element for the development of Borrelia in the tick. This essential data suggests the development of an innovative vaccination strategy aimed at disrupting the microbiota of the vector of the Lyme disease agent.
1 The bacterium Borrelia lives in the tick’s microbiota.
2 It is a harmless strain ofEscherichia coli which is used in the experiment. Many varieties of the bacteria exist, some of which can be harmful.
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