LTT test for Borrelia (Infectolab)--sensitivity 89.4%

[Sushi]

Open Neurol J. 2012; 6: 104–112.
Published online Oct 5, 2012. doi: 10.2174/1874205X01206010104
PMCID: PMC3474945

Suppl 1
The Lymphocyte Transformation Test for Borrelia Detects Active Lyme Borreliosis and Verifies Effective Antibiotic Treatment
Volker von Baehr,1 Cornelia Doebis,1 Hans-Dieter Volk,2 and Rüdiger von Baehr1,*
Author information ► Article notes ► Copyright and License information ►

Go to: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3474945/
Abstract

Borrelia-specific antibodies are not detectable until several weeks after infection and even if they are present, they are no proof of an active infection. Since the sensitivity of culture and PCR for the diagnosis or exclusion of borreliosis is too low, a method is required that detects an active Borrelia infection as early as possible. For this purpose, a lymphocyte transformation test (LTT) using lysate antigens of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto, Borrelia afzelii and Borrelia garinii and recombinant OspC was developed and validated through investigations of seronegative and seropositive healthy individuals as well as of seropositive patients with clinically manifested borreliosis. The sensitivity of the LTT in clinical borreliosis before antibiotic treatment was determined as 89,4% while the specificity was 98,7%...

 

[Cheesus]

Is this only for early infections? Does it work for late bloomers too.

 

[Thinktank]

@Cheesus, I think it's especially helpful to determine a chronic infection with borrelia burgdorferi because it looks at actual cellular activity - antigen.

 

[ikke2001be]

Hi,
taking this test was the best thing I ever did. I'm sick since 2003, and have suspected lyme since the very biginning. Over time, I had several elisa's, western blot's, immuno blot's, and pcr's. All of them returned negative. December 2012 I had the first ltt test in Augsburg germany, and guess what: positive!

Athe same lab I was also positive for EBV, coxsacky virus, q-fever, ehrlichia, yersinia, chlamydia pneumonia, chlamydia trachomatis, and had inconclusive results for bartonella and babesia. I started the treatment there on 18 feb 2013. After this treatment(jan 2014) my testresults for lyme and co where negative, except the q-fever. Also my results for bart and bab returned pos, so I'm still working on those three with rifampicine 1x450mg/day, azithromycine 600 mg 3 times/week, doxycycline 2x200mg/day, and malarone 250mg/day. Also noteworthy is the fact that 8 people with CFS have had theirselves tested in Augsburg, and all of them returned positive titers for borellia, and several co's.

We met a lady there that was in a wheelchair, and had the diagnosis MS, and was also found pos for lyme with the ltt test. After the initial 2 weeks of treatment at the BCA, she was able to come to the clinic on foot. She no longer needed the wheelchair. The ltt is also a very good tool to check the treatment progress, and gives correct results, even while taking antibiotics.

Also good to know is that this same test was approved by the cdc for the diagnosis of TBC. It is called an IGRA-test (interferon gamma release assay), but it is an ltt or elispot test. Same test, diffrent name. The cdc wouldn't want all CFS patients to get one of these, or all their lies would be exposed. If you can get one of these, do it. It was 250 euro's well spent.
Take care.

 

[Cheesus]

So I'm thinking about maybe doing this and I've been having a look into it. I see LTT is recommended alongside a number of other tests in the case of chronic Lyme such as CD57. The Infectolab website is sparse at best, and I wanted to see costs/how you go about ordering the tests, but there is virtually no information. I saw something on Regeneruslabs but still I can't really see cost or how the average joe would go about doing this. If I were to want to do it, I'd have to ask my NHS GP to take the blood.

Any insight?

 

[ikke2001be]

For those really interested in getting their health back, write an e-mail to service at infectolab dot de . They will explain the ins and outs to you. They are very friendly, and always prepared to help, although their english is a bit onconventional. Good luck, and keep us posted...

 

[Thinktank]

@ikke2001be, yes they reply quite promptly and that's a very good thing.

I think it's better if you remove their email address from your post though because forums like these get crawled by bots that collect email addresses to send spam to. People can contact infectolab through their website,

 

[Undisclosed]

@ikke2001be, yes they reply quite promptly and that's a very good thing.

I think it's better if you remove their email address from your post though because forums like these get crawled by bots that collect email addresses to send spam to. People can contact infectolab through their website,

I have changed the email to replace '@' with 'at' and '.' with 'dot'. The bots won't pick it up now.

 

[roxie60]

I am considering this lab. They have been very responsive via email and answering questions.

I am starting abx for mycoplasma and anaplasma so I also wonder if I can take this ltt test while on abx. All elusa and ufenex negative for lyme Bb but wb had lyme specific bands show up just too weak for a positive Bb. I was hoping it would be worth the mkney and effort to get the ltt to test fof a number of infections I have not yet tested or have come up negative. Also told insurance will not reimburse but the igenix will be a third party so one can request the Germany ltt tests and igenux will forwsrd blood to Germany but igenex will bill us, at a higher rate but at least some maybe covered by ins. Unfortunately it also requires dr order whereas one xan directly work with Germany lab if dont go through ifenex.

 

[Valentijn]

I am starting abx for mycoplasma and anaplasma so I also wonder if I can take this ltt test while on abx.

It sounds like it does work best during treatment, compared to other Lyme tests. Basically antibodies will remain positive for a while even when the infection is gone, but the LTT doesn't have that problem. So it's useful for monitoring progress, which I would think means that it will give positive results if infected with Lyme, even during treatment, unless it's already been pretty much cured.

 

[nandixon]

I haven't seen this posted on PR yet(?), though it's a few months old. If someone has access to the article ("letter") it might be helpful:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24520912/

The lymphocyte transformation test for the diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis has currently not been shown to be clinically useful.

Dessau RB, et al.

Clin Microbiol Infect. 2014 Feb 13. doi: 10.1111/1469-0691.12583. [Epub ahead of print]

PMID 24520912 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

(The not very useful "Abstract" is from: http://www.researchgate.net/publica...rently_not_documented_to_be_clinically_useful)

ABSTRACT This letter is a comment on a study using lymphocyte transformation test (LTT) for diagnosis of active Lyme borreliosis caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato [1]. This LTT study reports the findings derived from a validation panel containing 120 blood donors seronegative for Borrelia, 40 seronegative patients with autoimmune diseases, 48 healthy seropositive controls and 94 seropositive patients with clinical signs of Lyme borreliosis. Furthermore, 1480 samples were investigated with both serology (Borrelia IgG and IgM ELISA and Western blot, Mikrogen, Munich Germany) and LTT. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

 

[maryb]

Does anyone know does blood have to be newly drawn for the LTT ? Just wondering as if my result from blood at Igenex is still IND then could it be sent on to Infectolab? This would save me a lot of time, effort and money.

 

[Helen]

Does anyone know does blood have to be newly drawn for the LTT ? Just wondering as if my result from blood at Igenex is still IND then could it be sent on to Infectolab? This would save me a lot of time, effort and money.

The best would be to send an e-mail to Infectolabs and ask. They have always sent me replys shortly afterwards.

 

[maryb]

@Helen
thanks I will do that,still waiting for my Igenex result, over 4 weeks now, should be ready by the end of the week

 

[Thinktank]

Thanks for posting the abstract. Does anyone here have access to the full study?

I haven't seen this posted on PR yet(?), though it's a few months old. If someone has access to the article ("letter") it might be helpful:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24520912/

The lymphocyte transformation test for the diagnosis of Lyme borreliosis has currently not been shown to be clinically useful.

Dessau RB, et al.

Clin Microbiol Infect. 2014 Feb 13. doi: 10.1111/1469-0691.12583. [Epub ahead of print]

PMID 24520912 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

(The not very useful "Abstract" is from: http://www.researchgate.net/publica...rently_not_documented_to_be_clinically_useful)

ABSTRACT This letter is a comment on a study using lymphocyte transformation test (LTT) for diagnosis of active Lyme borreliosis caused by Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato [1]. This LTT study reports the findings derived from a validation panel containing 120 blood donors seronegative for Borrelia, 40 seronegative patients with autoimmune diseases, 48 healthy seropositive controls and 94 seropositive patients with clinical signs of Lyme borreliosis. Furthermore, 1480 samples were investigated with both serology (Borrelia IgG and IgM ELISA and Western blot, Mikrogen, Munich Germany) and LTT. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

 

[nandixon]

Thanks for posting the abstract. Does anyone here have access to the full study?

I believe it's not so much a study but rather a "letter," i.e., a commentary, on the 2012 study that @Sushi cited in his original post. The "Abstract" I posted is actually the first several lines of the letter.

It would definitely be nice to read the full article/letter, since the title is suggesting these researchers (Dessau RB, et al.) have not found the LTT to be useful for diagnosing Lyme.

 

[Sushi]

Does anyone know does blood have to be newly drawn for the LTT ? Just wondering as if my result from blood at Igenex is still IND then could it be sent on to Infectolab? This would save me a lot of time, effort and money.

Yes, has to be newly drawn and get to the lab pronto.

Sushi

 

[maryb]

Yes, has to be newly drawn and get to the lab pronto.

Sushi

 

[Thinktank]

I believe it's not so much a study but rather a "letter," i.e., a commentary, on the 2012 study that @Sushi cited in his original post. The "Abstract" I posted is actually the first several lines of the letter.

It would definitely be nice to read the full article/letter, since the title is suggesting these researchers (Dessau RB, et al.) have not found the LTT to be useful for diagnosing Lyme.

I see, well i'm very interested in seeing the data they (Dessau et al) gathered.

 

[Ema]

I see, well i'm very interested in seeing the data they (Dessau et al) gathered.

I'll request it.