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May 3, 2017

W. CT Health Network Lyme disease biobank expands testing and research

By John Stearns

The Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN) Lyme disease biobank, formerly known as the Lyme disease registry, is expanding its research scope by adding urine samples from patients with the tick-borne disease in addition to blood samples.

The biobank has been collecting blood samples from Lyme patients since 2010 and has more than 400 such samples that its researchers have used in their work to advance Lyme testing. It’s the only known hospital-based Lyme disease biobank in the nation, according to WCHN.

Recently, researchers outside WCHN have used new technologies to develop a new urine-based Lyme test that may help diagnose the disease in the early stages, WCHN said. Urine samples from the biobank will help confirm whether the new technologies could be taken to a clinical setting.

Seeing the interest in urine as a potentially reliable body fluid for which tests can show active infection, WCHN has begun collecting urine samples of Lyme patients that it will only share with specific researchers, said Dr. Paul Fiedler, chair of pathology and laboratory medicine and principal investigator in Lyme disease research at WCHN.

It’s possible WCHN could partner in the future on a urine test or develop one itself, he said.

In the meantime, WCHN continues to test its blood samples, looking for a more sensitive test that can show if there’s any evidence of persistent infection in chronic patients who continue to feel sick from Lyme even long after they’ve gone through full antibiotic treatment. Post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome affects 10 to 20 percent of patients, Fiedler said.

Current Lyme disease testing methods look at the immune system’s response to the disease rather than directly looking at the presence of the disease in the body. In addition to the urine-based test developed elsewhere, WCHN researchers are developing a blood-based test which looks for the DNA of Lyme disease-causing bacteria. This could also allow for earlier detection of the disease.

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