[Preparations for serodiagnosis of diseases due to causative agents of ixode tick-borne borreliosis (Lyme disease). Communication 1. Comparative study of the 1st generation enzyme immunoassay test-systems for detection of antibodies to Borrelia burkdorferi sensu lato]. / Preparaty dlia serodiagnostiki zabolevanii, vyzyvaemykh vozbuditeliami iksodovykh kleshchevykh borreliozov (bolezn' Laima). Soobshchenie!. cravnitel'noe izuchenie immunofermantnikh test sistem 1 pokoleniia, napravlennikh na vyiavlenie antitel k Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato.

Four foreign and one Russian 1st generation test-systems for detecting class G antibodies or summary antibodies to Borrelia burkdorferi sensu lato were comparitively investigated with the use of the clinical material under conditions of an encoded experiment. Cross reactions with sera from patients with syphilis, Epstein-Barr infection, cytomegalovirus infection and systemic lupus erythematosus were observed. The best specificity and sensitivity parameters were provided by the Enzygnost Borreliosis test-system.

[Comparative analysis of use of two strains of various genotypes of Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato as antigens for antibody identification in Ixodes tick borreliosis by indirect immunofluorescence]. / Sravnitel'nyi analiz rezul'tatov ispol'zovaniia dvukh shtammov razlichnykh genovidov Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato v kachestve antigenov dlia opredeleniia antitel pri iksodovykh kleshchevykh borreliozakh metodom nepriamoi immunofluorestsentsii.

The results of the indirect reaction of immune-fluorescence (IRIF) was studied in testing 49 sera of 19 patients with Lyme-borreliosis with antigens of genotypes Borrelia afzeli (strain Jp-21) and Borrelia burgdorferi sensu stricto (strain No. 17); rabbit fluorescini-sothiocyanate-marked conjugates to human immunoglobulins M and G as well as polyvalent conjugate were used of. No reliable differences were found between all positive and all negative results. The biggest portion of positive results was registered in tests with anti-G-conjugate (up to 92% with strain No 17).

[Borrelia burgdorferi s.s. length and its variability]. / Dlina Borrelia burgdorferi s.s. i ee izmenchivost'.

The length of 469 Borreliae burgdorferi s.I. from the Ixodes ricinus and I. persulcatus images collected in the Moscow Region, that of 5433 B. burgdorferi s.s from the I. persulcatus nymphs and images cultured at a laboratory, and B. burdorferi s.s. grown on the BSK-II (1 and 10 passages) were measured. There was a wide range of variations in the length of specimens (3-74 microns) and in those of this group average sizes (10.7-24.8 microns). The lengths of Borelliae from natural and laboratory ticks after their molt were 17-18 microns. When the ticks were kept in the refrigerator as long as 1-2 years, the length of Borreliae decreased to 10.7-10.9 microns, upon multiple (10) passages on the BSK-II medium, their lengths increased to 24.8 microns (the differences being significant). When the length of Borreliae reduced due to their keeping in the refrigerator, their pathogenicity for albino mice diminished. This disappeared after multiple BSK-II medium passages. It is suggested that the length of Borreliae may serve as a marker of their pathogenicity.

[Synthesis of an artificial gene coding for thymosin alpha1 and its expression in Escherichia coli as a hybrid with human tumor necrosis factor]. / Sintez iskusstvennogo gena, kodiruiushchego timozin alpha1, i ego ékspressiia v Escherichia coli v sostave gibridov s faktorom nekroza opukholei cheloveka.

Chemical-enzymatic synthesis and cloning in Escherichia coli of an artificial gene encoding the immunoactive peptide thymosin alpha 1 have been carried out. Recombinant plasmids were constructed which contain fusion genes coding for hybrids of human tumour necrosis factor (TNF) and thymosin alpha 1 as N- or C-terminal part of the hybrid protein. In the C-terminal hybrid protein, TNF and thymosin alpha 1 are linked through a methionine residue, thus allowing for thymosin alpha 1 to be cleaved off the rest of the hybrid protein with cyanogen bromide. In case of the N-terminal hybrid protein, the linker between the thymosin alpha 1 and TNF sequences is the acid-labile dipeptide Asp-Pro. Expression of the hybrid genes in E. coli and properties of the recombinant proteins were studied. The N-terminal hybrid protein was secreted into periplasmic space, in contrast with the C-terminal hybrid protein, which formed insoluble aggregates inside bacterial cells. Procedures for the isolation of both hybrid proteins were developed. The N-terminal hybrid protein displayed full biological activity in the cytotoxic assay on the mouse fibroblast L-929 whereas the C-terminal hybrid protein proved to be much less active. Treatment of the hybrid protein TNF-thymosin alpha 1 with cyanogen bromide lead to a mixture of two polypeptides, from which thymosin alpha 1 was purified to homogeneity by simple chromatographic procedures.