Diagnosis of Lyme Borreliosis With a Novel, Seminested Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction Targeting the 5S-23S Intergenic Spacer Region: Clinical Features, Histopathology, and Immunophenotype in 44 Patients

Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most common tick-borne infection in Europe and North America. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is an important tool to confirm the diagnosis, but not always successful, especially when organisms are sparse. We developed a novel, seminested real-time PCR assay [target: 5S-23S intergenic spacer region (IGS)] and compared it with 3 well-established conventional PCR assays (IGS/OspA/real-time IGS) on 596 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded routine skin biopsies. The seminested real-time assay identified 46 cases of borreliosis while 25, 27, and 38 were identified by the 3 other assays, respectively (P 0.01, P 0.02, and P 0.42; significance P < 0.05). Clinicopathologic and immunophenotypic analysis of PCR-positive cases revealed 38 erythema migrans (EM), 6 Borrelia lymphocytomas, and 2 acrodermatitis chronica atrophicans (ACA). In the 44 PCR-confirmed cases, plasma cells were present in only a third of EM cases. By contrast, CD123-positive plasmacytoid dendritic cells were common (74%) and therefore are unlikely to be helpful in the differential diagnosis between EM and tumid lupus erythematosus. A loss of CD34 in a third of all LB specimens limits its diagnostic value in the differential diagnosis with morphea. Interstitial macrophages were common in cutaneous LB (42/43) forming interstitial granulomas in a third of all cases, and 3/38 EM, 3/6 Borrelia lymphocytomas, and 1/2 ACA were only identified by the new seminested real-time assay, suggesting that it is especially helpful in confirming the diagnosis of Borrelia lymphocytoma.