Manganese is Lyme disease's double-edge sword

Summary

For decades, Lyme disease has frustrated both physicians and patients alike. Caused by the corkscrew-shaped bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, the infection, if left untreated, can linger for months, leading to fever, fatigue and painful inflammation. In a new study, Northwestern University and Uniformed Services University (USU) scientists have uncovered a surprising — and ironic — vulnerability in the hardy bacterium. By exploiting this vulnerability, researchers could help disarm B. burgdorferi, potentially leading to new therapeutic strategies for Lyme disease. The Northwestern and USU team discovered that manganese, which helps shield B. burgdorferi against its host’s immune system, is simultaneously also a crack in its armor. If B. burgdorferi is either starved of or overloaded with manganese, the bacteria become highly vulnerable to the host’s immune system or treatments they would otherwise resist. The study was published today (Nov. 13) in the journal mBio. “Our work shows that manganese is a double-edged sword in Lyme disease,” said Northwestern’s Brian Hoffman, who co-led the study with USU’s Michael Daly. “It’s both Borrelia’s armor and its weakness. If we can target the way it manages manganese, we could open doors for entirely new approaches for treating Lyme disease.” Hoffman is the Charles E. and Emma H. Morrison Professor of Chemistry and molecular biosciences at Northwestern’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences. He also is a member of the Chemistry of Life Processes Institute and the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University. Daly is an emeritus professor of pathology at USU. Since the 1980s, the occurrence of Lyme disease has increased dramatically across North America and around the globe. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 476,000 people in the United States are diagnosed annually. Currently, there are no approved vaccines against the disease, and long-term use of antibiotics is prob...