# Targeting a ubiquitous spirochete bacteriophage to prevent Lyme disease

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA · 2020 · $217,500

## Abstract

Targeting a ubiquitous spirochete bacteriophage to prevent Lyme disease
 Borrelia burgdorferi is the etiologic agent of Lyme disease, which is spread by the bite of Ixodes ticks. Lyme
disease is the most common tick-borne disease in the United States with reported cases nearly tripling in the
past ten years. It would be ideal to vaccinate against Lyme disease. However, there are no approved vaccines
that prevent Lyme disease in humans. One major challenge is identifying microbial targets that are amenable to
immunization and common across all B. burgdorferi strains.
 Nearly all B. burgdorferi are infected by cp32 prophages. These prophages can undergo lytic replication
where they are packaged into infectious virions designated fBB-1. Recent work demonstrates that a wide range
of bacteriophage species directly interact with innate pattern recognition receptors on human and mouse immune
cells and modulate immune responses in ways that promote pathogenesis. Furthermore, we discovered that
immunizing against a bacteriophage can prevent infection by the human pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa.
In light of these observations, we hypothesize that a vaccine against fBB-1 bacteriophages will protect against
Lyme disease.
 To test this hypothesis, we have established a team of microbiologists, Lyme disease experts, immunologists,
and vaccine scientists. In Aim 1, we will leverage our teams experience in creating anti-bacteriophage vaccine
formulations to develop and optimize an anti-fBB-1 vaccine. In Aim 2, we will demonstrate the efficacy of our
vaccine in the tick-mouse model of Lyme disease. We will measure B. burgdorferi and fBB-1 loads in both mice
and ticks after a bloodmeal. If successful, this work will provide a critical first step towards developing a novel
anti-bacteriophage vaccine that prevents Lyme disease. Additionally, this work will further elucidate the biology
underlying this fascinating phage/host/microbe interaction, which may reveal additional therapeutic targets to
treat or prevent not only Lyme disease, but other spirochete-related infections such as relapsing fever.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9955593
- **Project number:** 1R21AI151597-01
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA
- **Principal Investigator:** Patrick R Secor
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $217,500
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2020-03-10 → 2022-02-28

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9955593

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9955593, Targeting a ubiquitous spirochete bacteriophage to prevent Lyme disease (1R21AI151597-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9955593. Licensed CC0.

---

*[NIH grants dataset](/datasets/nih-grants) · CC0 1.0*