Medical Hypotheses: Autoimmunity in Post Lyme disease

[jpcv]

http://www.medical-hypotheses.com/article/S0306-9877(17)30771-5/fulltext

 

[Hip]

So in summary, this autoimmune hypothesis of chronic Lyme says that:

Borrelia burgdorferi enolase ➤ triggers autoimmune attack on gamma enolase in neurons ➤ blocks the brain's energy metabolism (as enolase is involved in glycolysis) ➤ causes the symptoms of chronic Lyme (such as brain fog, fatigue and pain).

It is interesting to note that in primate studies, Borrelia burgdorferi have been shown to form a chronic antibiotic-resistant infections; so chronic Borrelia infections in Lyme patients could be constantly driving the autoimmune attack on gamma enolase.

 

[jpcv]

Very interesting theory, I don't know much about Lyme because it's not a important disease where I live, nevertheless the similarities of symptoms with ME/cfs deserves some considerations that maybe some infectious agent caused some disturbance in the organism that can lead to a chronic disease (ME) even in the absence of active infection.

 

[Hip]

maybe some infectious agent caused some disturbance in the organism that can lead to a chronic disease (ME) even in the absence of active infection

That's a possibility, though it might also be possible that this autoimmune response hypothesized to cause chronic Lyme is being maintained by the constant presence of low levels of persistent infection.


A similar infection-induced autoimmune theory for ME/CFS was proposed by Prof Peter Behan in the 1980s: he suggested that enterovirus may trigger an autoimmune attack on mitochondria that leads to ME/CFS. I wrote a thread on his autoimmune theory of ME/CFS.