# A PET Radiotracer for Diagnostic and Theranostics Imaging in Lyme Disease

> **NIH NIH R21** · HUNTER COLLEGE · 2020 · $195,000

## Abstract

Project Summary/Abstract
 Lyme disease is a tick-borne infection caused by the spirochete Borrelia burgdorgeri sensu lato (Bbsl) and
is the most prevalent vector-borne disease in the United States. The latest surveillance from the Centers for
Disease Control reported 40,000 new cases of Lyme disease in 2017 alone. Alarmingly, the disease is
expanding from its endemic areas in the Northeast, mid-Atlantic, and Upper Midwest to neighboring states.
The rapidly increasing public health risks and rising healthcare costs associated with the disease are
exacerbated by controversies surrounding its diagnosis and treatment, especially in cases of `post-treatment
Lyme disease syndrome' and `chronic Lyme disease'. In these cases, there are no definitive consensus
diagnostic markers that are both sensitive and specific for the infection. While the under-diagnosis of Lyme
disease has naturally lead to under-treatment, the mis-diagnosis and mis-treatment of the condition has led to
serious morbidity as well. Taken together, the data make it clear that the development of new diagnostic and
theranostic tools for Lyme disease is an urgent, unmet clinical need.
 This R21 proposal is focused on the design, synthesis, and in vitro evaluation of sensitive and specific
radiotracers for the diagnostic and theranostic positron emission tomography (PET) of patients with Lyme
disease. The target for these radiopharmaceuticals will be VlsE, a protein that is abundantly expressed on the
surface of Bbsl throughout its time in its vertebrate host. Specific Aim 1 (SA1) will be focused on the
identification of broadly reactive VlsE-based biomarkers via the comparative analysis of BBsl genomes, with an
overall goal designing 15 candidate targets (10 variants of VlsE and 5 vls-based peptides) based on
consensus and conserved sequences. Specific Aim 2 (SA2) will be centered on the expression of the
candidate VlsE proteins, the synthesis of the vls-encoded peptides, and the in vitro testing of the antigenicity of
these biomolecules with patient antisera in order to identify the most broadly reactive target molecules.
Specific Aim 3 (SA3) will focus on the generation of a VlsE-specific monoclonal antibody and F(ab) fragment
as well as the radiosynthesis of the corresponding radioimmunoconjugates labeled with positron-emitting
radiometals zirconium-89 (89Zr) and gallium-68 (68Ga). The in vitro immunoreactivity of these
radioimmunoconjugates will be interrogated with several strains of VlsE-expressing BBsl as well as control
gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria. Ultimately, we believe that this proposal could have a
transformational impact on both the basic science and clinical management of Lyme disease. In the laboratory,
a Lyme-targeted radiotracer could be a valuable research tool during the development of murine models of the
disease and the evaluation of Bbsl-targeted therapeutics. Even more importantly, in the clinic, a VlsE-targeted
radiopharmaceutical could prove to be bot...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10041529
- **Project number:** 1R21EB030275-01
- **Recipient organization:** HUNTER COLLEGE
- **Principal Investigator:** WEIGANG QIU
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $195,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-06-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10041529

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10041529, A PET Radiotracer for Diagnostic and Theranostics Imaging in Lyme Disease (1R21EB030275-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10041529. Licensed CC0.

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