Association of immune response to endothelial cell growth factor with early disseminated and late manifestations of Lyme disease but not posttreatment Lyme disease syndrome

Abstract

Endothelial cell growth factor has been recently proposed as a potential autoantigen in manifestations of Lyme disease that are thought to involve immune-mediated mechanisms. Our findings indicate that a humoral immune response to this protein is not associated with posttreatment Lyme disease syndrome.

Keywords: Borrelia burgdorferi; Lyme disease; antibody; endothelial cell growth factor; posttreatment Lyme disease syndrome.