Nikhil Prasad Fact checked by:Thailand Medical News Team Nov 14, 2025 1 hour, 47 minutes ago
Medical News: A Hidden Vulnerability Comes to Light
Scientists from Northwestern University and the Uniformed Services University have uncovered a surprising weakness inside Borrelia burgdorferi, the bacterium that causes Lyme disease. This pathogen has long frustrated doctors and patients because it can linger inside the body and trigger persistent symptoms such as fever, extreme tiredness and painful inflammation. Now, researchers say the microbe’s dependence on the mineral manganese may finally offer a way to weaken and possibly disable it.
A hidden flaw in the bacterium’s mineral shield may be the key to new Lyme disease treatments
The new findings show that manganese, which the bacterium uses as a protective shield, can also become the very factor that makes it vulnerable. As explained in this
Medical News report, disrupting this finely tuned manganese balance leaves the microbe dangerously exposed to the body’s immune defenses. This discovery may pave the way for new treatment options that avoid long antibiotic courses, which often disrupt beneficial gut bacteria.
How the Bacterium Uses Manganese to Survive
The research teams from Northwestern University’s Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, the Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, the Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Uniformed Services University used advanced EPR imaging and ENDOR spectroscopy to map how manganese functions inside the bacterium. They discovered that B. burgdorferi relies on a two-layer defense system: an enzyme called MnSOD that blocks harmful oxygen radicals at the surface, and a backup pool of manganese-metabolite complexes inside the cell that soak up any remaining toxic molecules.
This metal-based protection, however, is extremely fragile. When manganese levels drop, the defenses collapse. When manganese becomes too abundant, the bacterium—especially older cells—cannot store the excess safely, causing the metal to turn toxic. This double-edged nature of manganese is what makes it a powerful therapeutic target.
A New Path for Future Lyme Disease Treatments
Because B. burgdorferi is so dependent on maintaining the perfect manganese balance, the study suggests several new ways to attack it. Potential treatments may aim to starve the bacterium of manganese, disrupt its ability to form protective complexes or overwhelm it with excess metal that becomes poisonous. Any of these approaches could weaken the microbe enough for the immune system to eliminate it more effectively. With hundreds of thousands of new Lyme disease cases diagnosed each year and no vaccine available, this represents a major scientific breakthrough.
A Turning Point in Understanding Lyme Disease Biology
The findings not only explain how the bacterium survives oxidative attacks inside the body but also reveal how easily its defenses can fail when manganese levels shift. This deeper understanding could guide new therapies and inspire further research into other manganese-dependen
t pathogens. By targeting this mineral vulnerability, scientists may finally gain the upper hand against one of the world’s most persistent tick-borne infections.
The study findings were published in the peer reviewed journal mBio.
https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mbio.02824-25
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