 Lyme disease vaccine proteins are patented
UPTON, N.Y., April 9 (UPI) -- U.S. government scientists received a patent for developing combination proteins for possible use against Lyme disease.
The researchers at the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y., in collaboration with scientists at Stony Brook University, said the proteins they developed could advance the development of vaccines and diagnostic tests for Lyme disease.
The genetically engineered proteins combine pieces of two proteins that are normally present on the surface of the bacterium that causes Lyme disease but at different parts of the organism's life cycle.
"Combining pieces of these two proteins into one chimeric protein should trigger a 'one-two-punch' immune response more capable of fending off the bacterium than either protein alone," said Brookhaven biologist John Dunn. "These chimeric proteins could also be used as diagnostic reagents that distinguish disease-causing strains of bacteria from relatively harmless ones, and help assess the severity of an infection," Dunn said.
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne disease in the U.S., causing approximately 25,000 new cases each year -- a rate that is expected to increase by at least a third by 2012.
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