ClinicalTrials.gg
CompletedNCT00132327Updated Dec 3, 2018

Analysis of Lyme Disease Lesions

An observational study in Erythema Migrans Lesions and Erythema Migrans, sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID). Completed at 1 site in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older, including healthy volunteers. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2018-12-03.

Sponsored by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) · Observational

Study type
Observational
Enrollment
27
Ages
18 Years and older
Sex
All
01

Study summary

This study will analyze cells from erythema migrans lesions, the "bull's eye" rash of Lyme disease. Little is known about what happens in the skin when it is infected with Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacteria that cause Lyme disease. This study will examine and compare laboratory findings in skin biopsies from people with Lyme disease and from healthy normal volunteers to try to better understand the infection.

Healthy volunteers and people with untreated erythema migrans rash who are 18 years of age or older may be eligible for this study.

All participants undergo a clinical examination, blood tests, between two to four skin biopsies (removal of a small piece of tissue for laboratory examination), and complete two health questionnaires. The biopsies are taken from the erythema migrans lesion in patients with Lyme disease and from skin on the legs, forearms, buttocks, or side from healthy volunteers. To collect the tissue, the skin at the biopsy site is numbed with injection of a local anesthetic and a sharp instrument is then used to remove a round plug of skin about the size of a pencil eraser. The wound may be closed with one or two sutures, or allowed to heal without sutures. The sutures are removed after a week to 10 days.

Patients with Lyme disease receive treatment for their condition. In addition, at the time the sutures are removed and at 4 weeks, 6 months, and 12 months after their first visit they fill out a questionnaire and have additional blood tests.

Read the detailed description

Little is known of the host and the bacteria response in vivo in patients with Lyme disease. In an attempt to better understand the pathology of erythema migrans (EM), we will use a variety of techniques to characterize patterns in skin biopsies from individuals with a diagnosis of EM and compared those to the patterns seen in biopsies from unaffected individuals. Biopsies from patients may also be evaluated for B. burgdorferi. Patients diagnosed with erythema migrans will have between 2 and 4 punch skin biopsies of affected area, and will return for 4 follow up visits in the course of a year. Therapy for Lyme disease will be offered. Healthy volunteers will have a screening visit, a visit for the skin biopsies and a follow up visit. Patients and healthy volunteers will be compensated for their time and inconvenience.

02

Conditions studied

  • Erythema Migrans Lesions
  • Erythema Migrans

Keywords

  • Lyme Disease
  • Borrelia Burgdorferi
  • Inflammation
  • Skin
  • Host Response
  • Erythema Migrans Rash
  • Healthy Volunteer
  • HV
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In context

Glossitis, Benign Migratory

25 studies on the registry are indexed under Glossitis, Benign Migratory; 4 are open to participants now.

This study's enrollment of 27 is below the median of 245 across 12 observational studies indexed under Glossitis, Benign Migratory.

Browse Glossitis, Benign Migratory studies →

Lead sponsor

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is the lead sponsor of 2,446 studies on the registry; 179 are open to participants now.

Of its 405 completed or terminated interventional studies of FDA-regulated products, 302 (75%) have results posted.

Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.

04

Who can participate

Ages eligible
18 Years and older
Sexes eligible
All
Accepts healthy volunteers
Yes

Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.

Inclusion criteria

Patients:

Age greater than or equal to 18 years

Diagnosis of EM - an expanding annular lesion, at least 5 cm in diameter on a person with a history of exposure to the disease.

Exposure is defined as having been (less than or equal to 30 days before onset of EM) in wooded, brushy, or grassy areas (i.e., potential tick habitats) in an area in which Lyme disease is endemic.

A history of tick bite is not required.

The area of the erythema migrans lesion is suitable for . This excludes biopsies on the face, neck, scalp, and over the tibia.

Not know to be positive for RPR, , or

Able to give consent

Healthy Volunteers:

Age greater than or equal to 18 years

Not positive for RPR, HIV, HBsAg or HCV.

Able to give consent

Exclusion criteria

EXCLUSION CRITERIA:

Patients:

Antibiotic therapy for the current episode of Lyme disease

Oral within the past 2 weeks

History of severe skin disease (such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis) in the last year.

Diagnosis of diabetes, active cancer, or diseases.

drugs in the past month

History of forming large thick scars after skin injuries or surgery

History of excessive bleeding after cuts or procedures or on anticoagulation.

Use of steroid cream/ointment at the rash.

Healthy Volunteers:

History of Lyme disease, or serological evidence for Lyme disease

No oral corticosteroids within the past 2 weeks

History of severe skin disease (such as psoriasis, atopic dermatitis) in the last year.

Diagnosis of diabetes, cancer, autoimmune diseases.

Investigational drugs in the past month

History of forming large thick scars after skin injuries or surgery

No history of excessive bleeding after cuts or procedures or on anticoagulation.

Terms in these criteria, in plain language(7)

Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.

Biopsy and archival tissue

A biopsy takes a small piece of tissue to examine. “Archival tissue” is a sample already taken, for example at diagnosis, and kept by the hospital.

Whether a stored sample will do depends on when it was taken, how much there is and what the study needs. Ask whether the study accepts your stored sample or needs a new biopsy.

HIV

The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.

Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.

Hepatitis B tests

Hepatitis B is a virus that infects the liver. These are separate tests: HBsAg positive usually means a current infection (a recent vaccination can briefly cause it too); total anti-HBc (HBcAb) positive means an infection now or in the past; HBV DNA measures how much virus is in the blood.

Some studies accept a past infection if HBV DNA is undetectable, sometimes with antiviral medicine during the study. Check what this study allows.

Hepatitis C tests

Hepatitis C is a virus that infects the liver. An HCV antibody test can stay positive after an infection has cleared (and is occasionally positive without one); an HCV RNA test shows whether the virus is there now.

After treatment, hepatitis C counts as cured when HCV RNA is still undetectable 12 weeks or more after the treatment ended. Studies often accept people cured this way.

Corticosteroids (steroids)

Anti-inflammatory medicines such as prednisone, prednisolone and dexamethasone — not the anabolic steroids used for muscle.

Studies differ in what they allow: check which steroid medicines, routes (tablets, injections, creams, inhalers, eye drops) and doses this study accepts.

Autoimmune disease

A condition in which the immune system attacks the body’s own tissues, such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, type 1 diabetes or inflammatory bowel disease.

Immunotherapy studies often leave out active autoimmune disease, and some name exceptions, such as thyroid disease on replacement hormone. Check the exceptions this study lists.

Investigational drug or device

A drug or device being studied in a clinical trial.

It may be new, or already approved and being studied for another use, dose or form. Criteria often leave out people who took part in another study of one within a recent period, commonly 30 days or five half-lives.

05

Study design

Enrollment
27 participants (actual)
06

Study locations

1 site
  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike
    Bethesda, Maryland 20892, United States
07

References and documents

Publications

  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Lyme disease--United States, 2001-2002. MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2004 May 7;53(17):365-9. PubMed 15129194 ↗
  • Fraser CM, Casjens S, Huang WM, Sutton GG, Clayton R, Lathigra R, White O, Ketchum KA, Dodson R, Hickey EK, Gwinn M, Dougherty B, Tomb JF, Fleischmann RD, Richardson D, Peterson J, Kerlavage AR, Quackenbush J, Salzberg S, Hanson M, van Vugt R, Palmer N, Adams MD, Gocayne J, Weidman J, Utterback T, Watthey L, McDonald L, Artiach P, Bowman C, Garland S, Fuji C, Cotton MD, Horst K, Roberts K, Hatch B, Smith HO, Venter JC. Genomic sequence of a Lyme disease spirochaete, Borrelia burgdorferi. Nature. 1997 Dec 11;390(6660):580-6. doi: 10.1038/37551. PubMed 9403685 ↗
  • Casjens S, Palmer N, van Vugt R, Huang WM, Stevenson B, Rosa P, Lathigra R, Sutton G, Peterson J, Dodson RJ, Haft D, Hickey E, Gwinn M, White O, Fraser CM. A bacterial genome in flux: the twelve linear and nine circular extrachromosomal DNAs in an infectious isolate of the Lyme disease spirochete Borrelia burgdorferi. Mol Microbiol. 2000 Feb;35(3):490-516. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2958.2000.01698.x. PubMed 10672174 ↗
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Timeline

Tracking since Sep 25, 2026
Not marked actual or estimatedDates not marked actual or estimated

The record gives a start of Aug 2005 and a completion of Nov 2018. It does not say whether these dates are actual or estimated.

How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.

Registered
Aug 18, 2005
First posted
Aug 19, 2005
Start
Aug 17, 2005
Completion
Nov 29, 2018
Last update
Dec 3, 2018
What these dates mean
Start.
When the first participant enrolled; while estimated, when the study expects to open to recruitment.
Completion.
When the last participant's last visit took place, for every outcome, secondary ones and side effects included: the end of the study. Often later than primary completion, sometimes the same day.
No changes since tracking began. The registry record was last updated on Dec 3, 2018, before this site started recording changes on Sep 25, 2026. Its history is on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
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Registry details

Key details

Study ID
NCT00132327
Responsible party
Sponsor
First posted
Aug 19, 2005
Start date
Aug 17, 2005
Completion
Nov 29, 2018
Last update
Dec 3, 2018

Study contacts

Adriana R Marques, M.D.
principal investigator · National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
View the source record on ClinicalTrials.gov ↗

Not currently enrolling

This study is completed, as verified in Nov 2018. You cannot join it, but the record below documents what was studied.

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