Analysis of Antibody Response in Humans to the Type A OspC Loop 5 Domain and Assessment of the Potential Utility of the Loop 5 Epitope in Lyme Disease Vaccine Development

The OspC protein of Borrelia burgdorferi is an immunodominant antigen. Here we demonstrate that the loop 5 domain of type A OspC is surface exposed, elicits bactericidal antibody in mice, and is antigenic in humans. The data suggest that loop 5 may be suitable for inclusion in a polyvalent, chimeric OspC vaccinogen.