Complement Regulator-Acquiring Surface Protein: Difference between revisions

Lyme disease is caused by the spirochete ''Borrelia burgdorferi''. It is transferred into vertebrate hosts by zoonotic vectors, such as ''Ixodes'' ticks (Bykowski et al. 2007). There are thousands of cases reported each year, making it a prevalent disease in North America and Eurasia (Cordes et al. 2005). One of the ways B. burgdorferi is able to survive in its host is by evading its immune system. A protein responsible for a successful initial infection is Borrelia burgdorferi complement regulator-aquiring surface protein 1, or BbCRASP-1 (....). BbCRASP-1 binds host complement regulators to the spirochete's to remain undetected within the host (Bykowski et al. 2007). BbCRASP-1 specifically binds complement Factor H and Factor H-like proteins, which are responsible for an organism's detection of pathogens (Kraiczy et al. 2004).