Borrelia burgdorferi stimulates the production of interleukin-10 in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from uninfected humans and rhesus monkeys.

Heat-killed Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes stimulate in vitro production of interleukin-10 (IL-10) at both mRNA and protein levels in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of uninfected rhesus monkeys. A concomitant down-modulation of IL-2 gene transcription was observed. Neither IL-4 nor gamma interferon gene expression was ostensibly affected by B. burgdorferi spirochetes. These phenomena were observed regardless of whether the stimulating spirochetes belonged to the B. burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia afzelii, or Borrelia garinii genospecies, the three main species that cause Lyme disease. B. burgdorferi also induced production of IL-10 in uninfected human PBMC, indicating that this effect might play a role in human Lyme disease. Purified lipidated outer surface protein A (OspA), but not its unlipidated form, induced the production of high levels of IL-10 in uninfected human PBMC. Thus, the lipid moiety is essential in the induction of IL-10 in these PBMC. B. burgdorferi M297, a mutant strain that lacks the plasmid that encodes OspA and OspB, also induced IL-10 gene transcription in PBMC, indicating that this phenomenon is not causally linked exclusively to OspA and its lipid moiety. These results demonstrate that B. burgdorferi can stimulate the production of an antiinflammatory, immunosuppressive cytokine in naive cells and suggest that IL-10 may play a role both in avoidance by the spirochete of deleterious immune responses and in limiting the inflammation that the spirochete is able to induce.