PORTOLA VALLEY, Calif., Jan. 20, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a leading sponsor of Lyme disease research in the United States, announced the publication of new research in PLOS Pathogens identifying a novel mechanism that may trigger Lyme arthritis, one of the most common and debilitating complications of Lyme disease in the US. The study provides new insight into how the structure of Borrelia burgdorferi peptidoglycan, a component of the bacterium’s cell wall, and its interaction with a Borrelia protein can provoke joint inflammation. In a preclinical model, subtle changes researchers made to the bacterium’s peptidoglycan structure nearly eliminated arthritis despite ongoing infection, suggesting new approaches to reduce Lyme arthritis and joint damage that may complement antibiotics by targeting inflammatory bacterial components.
“Understanding how these bacterial structures provoke inflammation is an avenue towards new approaches for limiting long-term joint damage and possibly treating patients whose symptoms persist despite standard antibiotic therapy,” said Brandon L. Jutras, PhD, lead author of the study and associate professor of Microbiology-Immunology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and a Bay Area Lyme Foundation 2021 Emerging Leader Award winner. “Our findings offer critical insight into how Lyme arthritis is largely driven by specific structural components of Borrelia burgdorferi that may be targeted independent of the other aspects of the infection.”
This new study demonstrates that the chemical makeup and physical structure of peptidoglycan, a structural component of the Borrelia cell wall, play a decisive role in determining whether joint inflammation develops. It also demonstrates how impeding peptidoglycan’s interaction with a specific Borrelia protein may impact the bacterium’s ability to migrate to and persist within joint tissue, resulting in near elimination of Lyme arthritis in the study.
“This research represents a major advance in understanding the biological drivers of Lyme arthritis and underscores the importance of identifying and supporting innovative scientists early in their careers,” said Linda Giampa, Board of Directors, Bay Area Lyme Foundation. “By investing in Dr. Jutras’ research through our Emerging Leader Award, we helped accelerate discoveries that now point toward new therapeutic approaches with real potential to provide better treatment options for patients.”
Previous research by Jutras and his team has shown that peptidoglycan can linger in joint tissue and drive chronic inflammation. However, why this process leads to severe arthritis in some patients, but not others, has remained unclear until this study. In this new study, the researchers genetically altered B. burgdorferi to subtly change the structure of its peptidoglycan. The modified bacteria caused little to no joint inflammation in preclinical models of infection. This is in sharp contrast to animals infected with unmodified bacteria despite similar levels of infection throughout the body.
Altering the structure of peptidoglycan also disrupted a previously unrecognized interaction between peptidoglycan and p83/100, an immunodominant Borrelia protein that has been associated with joint involvement in Lyme disease in past studies. These findings help explain why bacterial remnants can be detected in patients’ joints years after infection and show that it is not just the presence of bacterial remnants, but how they are structured and how they interact with the immune system, that drives disease.
About Lyme disease
Lyme disease is the most common vector-borne infection in the US and can cause debilitating long-term symptoms. Transmitted by the bite of an infected tick, and potentially from mother to unborn baby, Lyme disease is often misdiagnosed, making timely treatment difficult. As a result, up to two million Americans may be living with long-term complications. Each year, approximately 500,000 Americans are diagnosed with Lyme disease, far more than new cases of HIV/AIDS, West Nile virus, tuberculosis, or malaria combined. Globally, a 2022 BMJ Global Health analysis found that about 1.15 billion people worldwide have or previously had an infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, highlighting the widespread and growing public-health impact of this disease.
About Bay Area Lyme Foundation
Bay Area Lyme Foundation, a national organization committed to making Lyme disease easy to diagnose and simple to cure, is the leading public charity sponsor of innovative Lyme disease research in the US. A 501c3 organization based in Silicon Valley, Bay Area Lyme Foundation collaborates with world-class scientists and institutions to accelerate medical breakthroughs for Lyme disease. It is also dedicated to providing reliable, fact-based information so that prevention and the importance of early treatment are common knowledge. Historically, a pivotal donation from the LaureL STEM fund covered all overhead costs through 2024. In 2023, a Bay Area Lyme Endowment was formed, which allows for 100% of all donor contributions to the Bay Area Lyme Foundation to go directly to research and prevention programs in perpetuity. For more information about Lyme disease or to get involved, visit www.bayarealyme.org or call us at 650-530-2439.
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