NEWS: Breakthrough test evaluates drugs for Lyme treatment
Supported in part by a research grant from LymeDisease.org, scientists at Johns Hopkins have developed a test to help determine which drugs are most effective against Lyme disease.
Press release from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Nov. 3, 2014:
Researchers from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have developed a test they say will allow them to test thousands of FDA-approved drugs to see if they will work against the bacteria that causes tick-borne Lyme disease.
The researchers, reporting Nov. 3 in the journal PLOS ONE, say doctors and patients are desperate for new treatments for Lyme disease, which in many people is cleared up with a few weeks of antibiotics but, in some, lingers long after completion of the standard drug regimen. Until now, it has been very difficult to determine on a large scale which drugs work against these lingering Borrelia burgdorferi – the bacteria that cause Lyme disease – hampering new drug discovery for the organism.
Study leader Ying Zhang, MD, PhD, a professor in the Bloomberg School’s Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology, and his colleagues tweaked a test typically used for simply counting DNA in samples in the lab. Using the test, they were able to quantify how many Borrelia burgdorferi are alive and how many are dead after each drug was added to the bacteria. The method stains the living bacteria green and the dead or dying bacteria red in a way that filters out the noise that can corrupt existing tests.
“It’s superior to the current gold standard for testing Borrelia viability,” Zhang says. “This could become be the new gold standard.”
The most exciting part of the development of the test, Zhang says, is that his team has already used it to identify a series of antibiotics approved to treat other infections that show promise in the lab against the lingering Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria, known as persisters. In a study published in July in the journal Emerging Microbes and Infections, Zhang and colleagues used the new test – called the SYBR Green I/PI assay – to identify several antibiotics that showed promise against the persistent bacteria that appear immune to the current Lyme antibiotics. That paper has been the most popular on the journal’s website, and patients, doctors and researchers have been contacting Zhang interested in testing out the most promising of the newly identified drugs.
The new test enables researchers to analyze thousands of drugs at a time because its use can directly measure the viability of the bacteria after drug treatment and doesn’t require each bacteria sample to be washed, as the currently used LIVE/DEAD BacLight assay does. In skipping that step, the new test is not only more accurate but also more efficient, is less expensive and takes less time, Zhang says.
Lyme disease is named after the town in Connecticut where it was first recognized in 1975. It is found from Maine to Virginia along the East Coast of the United States, peaking in June and July. The tick causes a skin reaction that resembles a bulls-eye or spider bite. If left untreated, Lyme disease may lead to systemic problems such as neurologic and arthritis symptoms weeks or months later. The antibiotic doxycycline or amoxicillin is considered the most effective treatment in resolving early signs of infection and preventing the majority of later symptoms but is ineffective for late-stage disease.
While most people with the disease are fine after a short course of antibiotics, a large subset of patients – some estimates say as high as 20 percent or more – suffer long-term symptoms including fatigue, musculoskeletal pain and memory problems. Their precise diagnosis has long been a controversial topic in medical circles. Some doctors believe that very few people experience persistent Lyme-related symptoms, known as post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome (PTLDS) or chronic Lyme disease. They say that most of the complaints of fatigue, headaches and memory problems in the weeks and months after a Lyme diagnosis, are just the aches and pains of daily life.
Zhang says it is very likely that these symptoms occur because the standard course of antibiotics does not get all of the Borrelia burgdorferi and these lingering bacteria remain in the body despite treatment with current Lyme antibiotics. The problem is that while a blood test may help to confirm Lyme disease, there is no definitive test for PTLDS as no bacteria can be cultured after antibiotic treatment and there are no approved or proven treatments.
The new drugs identified by Zhang’s assay appear to specifically target these persisters in the lab. The question remains as to whether they will do the same thing in humans. Some doctors are considering prescribing the drugs off-label for persistent Lyme disease symptoms, even without evidence showing it will work. Zhang cautions that animal studies should be done to see if they work before they are tested in Lyme disease patients, even though these are clinically used drugs for treating other infections, as inappropriate use of antibiotics can have side effects.
“There are a significant number of people who are sick and desperate for a cure for their Lyme disease symptoms months and even years after they have been told they are cured of the disease,” Zhang says. “The current drugs we use aren’t good enough for these persistent cases. This is why I have been getting so many calls and emails about our test and the drugs we have identified.”
“An Optimized SYBR Green I/PI Assay for Rapid Viability Assessment and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing forBorrelia burgdorferi” was written by Jie Feng, Ting Wang, Shuo Zhang, Wanliang Shi and Ying Zhang.
The study was funded by the Lyme Research Alliance and LymeDisease.org.
thank you please hurry
This true chronic disease will continue to rob people of their lives…this is great hope! Thank you…continue the hopeful research!
Gives me hope and Pray that this is going to help in a Cure!
Hopefully this will help those of us suffering with chronic lyme. Finding that doxycycline,azythromiacin do not work anymore.
First off, thank you so much for doing this research. Us lyme sufferers have been waiting for news like this. So many people are in dire straights and living lives that have no quality. Myself, my husband and our four children have this disease and struggle on a daily basis. Just the knowledge of this has shone a light on us. Forever greatful for your efforts this far.
Brandy Willmot
I HAVE CHRONIC LYMES DISEASE. IT WAS NOT FOUND UNTIL 5 YEARS LATER. WHEN OUR SON PASSED AWAY MY COUSIN AN UNDERTAKER CAME TO OUR HOME TOOK ONE LOOK AT ME AND SAID YOU HAVE LYMES DISEASE. AFTER TO 4 INFECTIOS DISEASE DRS. THAT SAID I DID NOT HAVE IT. I HAD A DNA TEST DONE AND IT CAME BACK POSITIVE LYMES DISEASE. NOW I AM ALWAYS IN PAIIIN CANT WALK HAVE NEUROLIGAL POBLEMS. AND JOINT PAIN. I HAVE BEEN ON IVSA DN MANY ANTIBITICS. PLEASE HURRY AND FIND A CURE FOR THIS HORRIBLE DISEDASE THANK YOU VERY MUCH GOD BLESS EVERYONE WHO IS SUFFERING FROM LYMES DISEASE.
Been waiting for a guy like you to come into my life… w/bodywide aches and pains, joint stiffness and brain fog and chronic fatigue. Was diagnosed with Lyme disease in 2008 and treated with several courses of antibiotics over the course of two years. Am now told by my neurologist I have Post Lyme Syndrome. Others have said Fibromyalgia. Begging for a cure. I’m 54 yrs. but sometimes feel as if I’m 80. I feel as if I’ve been robbed of my life.
My doctor sent away to Igenix lab and received a positive for Ehrlichiosis, but says it must be a false positive because all other bands came back ok. I asked him for another round of antibiotics, but he would not do it. I have been suffering for over a year with stiff neck, swollen joints and bone pain. My neck hurts all the time. So I have to treat myself at this point. This is so disappointing that I live in the United States and can not get adequate medical treatment.
Been living with Lyme for 20 years…..please let this help all of us who suffer from this awful disease.
Please help!!
I have lost everything to Chronic Neurological Lyme Disease, which I’ve had for 14 years. I was surprised and delighted to see this was a Hopkins study; so far, Hopkins “Lyme Drs” seem woefully uninformed about Chronic Lyme Disease. I hope they will soon join the ranks of the ILADS LLMDs who are saving people’s lives. Thank you for this badly needed research.
Does this test occur in living tissue? Bb is easily killed in vitro by many antibiotics tested back in the 80’s or 90’s. But the same antibiotics do not work as well in living tissue?
Look into cellular silver (I used ResultsRNA ACS200). All the oral antibiotics in the world did NOTHING, ACS200 gave me my mind back, and a month of Rocephin made my body semi-normal again (my new normal anyway) … but it took over 5 years to to the point where I was a functioning human being). Hang in there, fellow Lymies! <3
I went to the research place at Johns Hopkins in May this year, I discribed all my neurological plus symptoms to the doctor, she told me it wasn’t Lyme disease or any co infection. Please Johns Jopking believe that people can have CRONIC LYME disease, I was lucky enough to find a doctor who did a SPECT test and the lyme result was clear. Many of us are alone without any medical help suffering, please find better tests to detect Lyme so people can stop suffering, and please believe that CRONIC Lyme disease exist.
Where did you go to get your SPECT done? That test is what I need. I’m in the Baltimore/DC area.
Lost so much to this disease there is no where to begin. Now dealing with persistent Lyme, chronic fatigue, cognitive failures, and chronic pain. God bless you for your research. Perhaps if our government wasn’t so hyper-focussed on the Middle east we would have a solution by now
I’ve had Chronic Lyme for over 20yrs and have been in 2 LD Studies. I want to thank you for your work and pray that this will come to fruition.
I and 1,000’s like me have waited way too long for someone to believe in us and help us. This would be like such an answer to our prayers!!!
Thank you for posting this information. It is hopeful to see that work is being done to make the process of appropriate drug selection more efficient. Some Lyme Literate MDs have enough experience that they have learned through clinical observation which antibiotics/antivirals/anti-inflammatories, etc., are needed at different points during the course of this disease and it’s related co-infections. Hopefully this article is not implying that all treatment is “hit-and-miss”, as these tirelessly working MDs deserve credit for what they have figured out against all the odds of the medical establishment. I would also like to note that this article limits Lyme Disease to a few east coast states, which is a myth that has been debunked long ago. Lyme has been found in at least all of the contiguous states, and I can personally attest to its presence in northern California.
I think it’s important for us Lyme patients to realize that this is NOT a test to diagnose Lyme. This is a test to see what drugs work best to kill the Lyme-causing bacteria. Yes, it’s wonderful news. Finding more effective treatments will be even more wonderful. But… it doesn’t prevent being wrongly diagnosed in the first place, as so many of us have been. I hope this is just the beginning of a new era for Lyme sufferers, and a real test for the disease will follow shortly!
This is wonderful news. I wish this article could sent to doctors because I was told by a physician’s assistant there is no such thing as chronic Lyme . How wrong was she. She wouldn’t give me any meds so I went to a doctor in the same office and $500.00 worth of blood work later still came back negative but the doctor did give me the antibiotic and for 6 weeks. I have had Lyme for several years now on and off with symptom’s. I am in remission until another tick bite. Please hurry with the new meds it is so IMPORTANT. Thank you
Sounds very hopeful. Keep up the good research and lets move this FAST!
Once bitten by a tic we know that Lyme symptoms are just the tip of the iceberg. Dr. David Craig Wright/CDC Specialist once told me that “tics are like sewer rats”, and that they can carry almost every disease known to man. Treating tic borne diseases is almost like peeling an onion , one disease at a time. It takes time. It’s nice to hear we are starting to get serious about finding cures for our Lyme epidemic.
There was a line suggesting that lyme is on shown in New
England and down to Virginia, so why do we in NC have several endemic counties and people all over the state with
lyme and it’s co-infections. If the lyme is treated without
treating the co-inf the person will still be sick because of the same tick bite!
You people who are doing the research are in the trenches,
but the people who are infected with all the varments can’t
can’t even go to the grocery.
We do appreciate the work you are doing, so thank you.
This is very good news. I pray the research is forthcoming and the results will be the Gold Standard of care. We all have been praying for a miracle and hopefully this is it. Chronic Lyme disease does exist; there are a great many more believers who know it than the few skeptics who won’t even try. One of those believers is me, I have had Lyme disease that has impacted my life for over 25 years. That sounds pretty chronic to me! I lost everything; marriage family, friends, finances, job, memory, cognitive function, etc. I am seeing improvements after 5 years on antibiotics and now the Results RNA silver, zeolite and glutathione as mentioned above. This is a beast of an illness and the research could not come soon enough! Thank you.
What a blessing you give us as we approach the season of Thanksgiving… “HOPE”
Godspeed,
mary fanslau
Thank you for the research breakthrough! I am living a much better life after Lyme treatment, but still am a “Chronic Lymie”. Would love to be rid of this disease once and for all. For those wanting some encouraging news about living with Lyme right now, please look at my blog “More Than Hope and Monsters” on facebook. Or “Lyme Story” on blogger.
Thanks,
Noelle
I was blessed to have someone who knew how to diagnose me but not fully understand how to treat chronic Lyme. But had a good vision and she ( a llds) to a specialist and they (llds) sent me to a guy in d c . I finally feel hope and some change . Managing pain more than anyone else otherwise I’d be in excruciating pain. We can’t give up!!!!!! I may not have it all together many days but when my old primary doc told me I just needed to lose weight and exercise and the Lyme disease would go
Away, I know what isn’t good treatment and what is. The patients with lyme know a lot LISTEN to us. If it doesn’t make sense and fit in your box go
Searching!!!! Way to go all those that fight the good fight!!!!!!!!!
but will thise drugs ever be able to break through the biofilm thats the challenge of all drugs
12 years fighting chronic now. It’s stolen everything from me, and this gives me hope. Thank you.
Just to clarify, Lyme Disease is found in all 50 states (not just up and down the East Coast), and abroad. Many people have been left to suffer because of doctors telling them that their state does not have Lyme Disease.
This message (messages) help put things in perspective. I have been studying this problem for over a year and find difficulty in convincing others of the seriousness (and proximity of the ticks). The personal citations of the victims does help get the message across. I spoke to a group tonight and with the first-person quotes the message seemed to take.
This article was written over 3 yrs ago & we’re all still in the same boat. Yes I believe Lyme has gotten more rocognition but as far as testing & treatment we’ve gotten no where? If we were only a priority for the CDC the way Zika has been just imagine where we could all be today? Hopefully 2018 will bring us some real answers 🙂