Proteomic Analysis and Cell Line Confirmation Identified S100 Calcium-Binding Protein B As Lyme Neuroborreliosis-Associated Host Factor

Lyme neuroborreliosis (LNB) is a neurological disorder caused by Borrelia burgdorferi (Bb) infection. However, there is a lack of specific diagnostic indicators for LNB, and the pathogenesis of LNB is unclear. The present study aimed to explore the new diagnostic indicator and host factor in LNB. The LNB frontal-cortex explants models and cell models were established. After co-cultured with Bb, the culture medium and tissue samples were collected, which were used for protein sequencing and isobaric tags for relative and absolute quantitation (iTRAQ). Total 1,237 differentially expressed proteins (fold change≥1.5 or ≤0.67, P≤0.05) were screened out. Among these proteins, S100 calcium-binding protein B (S100B) showed high expression in the Bb group, then on the cell models, real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) was used to detect the expression of S100B mRNA, while enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was applied to analyze the expression of protein. S100B were highly expressed in LNB frontal-cortex explants and LNB cell models. S100B may have a key role in the pathogenesis of LNB. This is the first study to provide a link between S100B and LNB, and could advance a new diagnostic method and treatment for LNB.Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 32060180, 82160304, and 81860644) and Yunnan Province Department of Science and Technology-Kunming Medical University Joint Foundation [No. 2019FE001 (-002) and 2017FE467 (-001)]. This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China and Yunnan Province Department of Science and Technology-Kunming Medical University Joint Fund Projects. Declaration of Interests: We declare no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: The present study was conducted in accordance with the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA) [9] and the Animal Research: Reporting of In Vivo Experiments (ARRIVE) Guidelines [10]. The Animal Ethical and Welfare Committee of Kunming Medical University (Xishan Qu, China) approved the study protocol. All efforts were made to minimize suffering. All procedures were undertaken in accordance with the rules for euthanasia of experimental animals in the Chinese Experimental Animal Information Network.