Transcriptome Assessment of Erythema Migrans Skin Lesions

Gene arrays were used to characterize the global transcriptional alterations in skin biopsy samples of EM lesions in comparison to controls. The transcriptional pattern in EM biopsies consisted of 254 differentially regulated genes (180 induced and 74 repressed) characterized by the induction of chemokines, cytokines, Toll-like receptors, antimicrobial peptides, monocytoid cell activation markers, and numerous genes annotated as interferon (IFN)-inducible. The IFN-inducible genes included 3 transcripts involved in tryptophan catabolism (IDO1, KMO, KYNU) that play a pivotal role in immune evasion by certain other microbial pathogens by driving the differentiation of regulatory T cells.

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Marques A, Schwartz I, Wormser GP, Wang Y, Hornung RL, Demirkale CY, Munson PJ, Turk SP, Williams C, Lee CR, Yang J, Petzke MM