Comparison of Borrelia burgdorferi ultrasonicate and whole B, burgdorferi cells as a stimulus for T-cell proliferation and GM-CSF secretion in vitro.

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) from five patients with confirmed Lyme borreliosis (LB) and from seven seronegative healthy subjects were incubated with ultrasonicated sterile-filtrated B. burgdorferi and with whole live Borrelia burgdorferi cells (strain RT1). PBMC culture conditions were 1 x 10(5) PBMC/well/ 10% autologous plasma (AP) and 2 x 10(5) PBMC/well/ 10% pooled human AB-serum (ABS). Recall antigens and Pokeweed mitogen (PWM) served as specific and nonspecific control stimuli. When whole B. burgdorferi cells were used as antigen, both the borreliosis patients (borr) and the healthy subjects (contr) reacted with an elevated stimulation index (SI) and secretion of granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in vitro (SI borr. = 4; SI contr. = 3.7. GM-CSF borr. = 3.1 U/ml; GM-CSF contr. = 5.4 U/ml). A significant difference was observed when the B. burgdorferi sonicate was used. In this case, only the borreliosis patients reacted with an elevated PBMC proliferation and GM-CSF secretion (SI borr. = 6.1; SI contr. = 1.4. GM-CSF borr. = 7.6 U/ml; GM-CSF contr. = 0.3 U/ml) (p < 0.001).