Rapid motility arrest of the Lyme disease spirochete, Borrelia burgdorferi, by vaccine-induced OspA antibodies

Abstract

Outer surface protein A (OspA)-based Lyme disease vaccines elicit antibodies that inhibit transmission of infectious Borrelia burgdorferi spirochetes from ticks to humans, although the mechanism by which this occurs is unclear. Here we demonstrate using high-resolution, single-cell fluorescence video microscopy that B. burgdorferi motility is arrested within minutes by human OspA-specific monoclonal antibodies and polyclonal OspA antisera from mice immunized with a candidate OspA mRNA lipid nanoparticle vaccine.