Laboratory testing
Tests for antibodies in the blood by ELISA and Western blot is the most widely used method for Lyme diagnosis. A two-tiered protocol is recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): the sensitive ELISA test is performed first, and if it is positive or equivocal, then the more specific Western blot is run. The immune system takes some time to produce antibodies in quantity. After Lyme infection onset, antibodies of types IgM and IgG usually can first be detected respectively at 2–4 weeks and 4–6 weeks, and peak at 6–8 weeks. When an EM rash first appears, detectable antibodies may not be present. Therefore, it is recommended that testing not be performed and diagnosis be based on the presence of the EM rash. Up to 30 days after suspected Lyme infection onset, infection can be confirmed by detection of IgM or IgG antibodies; after that, it is recommended that only IgG antibodies be considered. A positive IgM and negative IgG test result after the first month of infection is generally indicative of a false-positive result. The number of IgM antibodies usually collapses 4–6 months after infection, while IgG antibodies can remain detectable for years.Other tests may be used in neuroborreliosis cases. In Europe, neuroborreliosis is usually caused by Borrelia garinii and almost always involves lymphocytic pleocytosis, i.e. the densities of lymphocytes (infection-fighting cells) and protein in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) typically rise to characteristically abnormal levels, while glucose level remains normal.
For instance, methylation of the DNA repair gene MGMT promoter was observed in 51% to 66% of glioblastoma specimens. In addition, in some glioblastomas, the MGMT protein is deficient due to another type of epigenetic alteration. MGMT protein expression may also be reduced due to increased levels of a microRNA that inhibits the ability of the MGMT messenger RNA to produce the MGMT protein. Zhang et al. found, in the glioblastomas without methylated MGMT promoters, that the level of microRNA miR-181d is inversely correlated with protein expression of MGMT and that the direct target of miR-181d is the MGMT mRNA 3UTR (the three prime untranslated region of MGMT messenger RNA).Epigenetic reductions in expression of another DNA repair protein, ERCC1, were found in an assortment of 32 gliomas. For 17 of the 32 (53%) of the gliomas tested, ERCC1 protein expression was reduced or absent. In the case of 12 gliomas (37.5%) this reduction was due to methylation of the ERCC1 promoter. For the other 5 gliomas with reduced ERCC1 protein expression, the reduction could have been due to epigenetic alterations in microRNAs that affect ERCC1 expression.When expression of DNA repair genes is reduced, DNA damages accumulate in cells at a higher than normal level, and such excess damages cause increased frequencies of mutation. Mutations in gliomas frequently occur in either isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) 1 or 2 genes. One of these mutations (mostly in IDH1) occurs in about 80% of low grade gliomas and secondary high-grade gliomas. Wang et al.