PEPTIDES AND ASSAYS FOR THE DIAGNOSIS OF LYME DISEASE AND COMPOSITIONS USEFUL FOR THE PREVENTION THEREOF

摘要

A peptide consisting of an invariable 26-amino-acid-long region, named IR6, which is antigenically conserved among strains and species of the B. burgdorferi sensu lato complex, and immunodominant in both human and nonhuman primate hosts is described. This peptide is characterized by the sequence MKKDDQIAAAMVLRGMAKDGQFALKD [SEQ ID NO: 1]. This peptide is useful for rapid and specific diagnosis of Lyme disease, as are proteins containing this peptide and nucleic acid sequences encoding this peptide and these proteins. Also provided is a novel ELISA, which is characterized by high sensitivity and specificity.