Lyme Disease Test

George Mason researchers are working to revolutionize Lyme disease detection and diagnosis with urine testing.

“We have developed a urine test for Lyme disease that detects the [Borrelia burgdorferi] bacteria that causes Lyme disease, making it a direct test to confirm an infection soon after the tick bite,” says coprincipal investigator Alessandra Luchini. “This leads to earlier treatment and could prevent the long-term debilitating effects of the disease.”

The current standard test for potential Lyme disease is an antibody blood test, which measures the body’s immune system response to the Borrelia bacteria. In contrast, the George Mason test detects molecules derived from the bacteria themselves, which has the advantage of high specificity (accuracy) and early detection. In clinical research trials, the urine tests had a 90 percent true positive rate and close to 100 percent specificity.

George Mason recently received $1.2 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of the Army to support development of the test. This three-year study takes place in the George Mason CAP/CLIA Clinical Proteomics Laboratory on the Science and Technology Campus and uses banked samples from cross-sectional and longitudinal studies of acute Lyme patients from the Lyme Disease Biobank and from Johns Hopkins University, a recognized leader in clinical Lyme disease research. 

Additionally, the study pilots a George Mason invention—a collapsible urine collection cup, which can be shipped to a lab through the mail, making collection and diagnosis easier for more people to access through telehealth. 

"A urine cup will offer a private, comfortable, and convenient way to collect the sample at home without compromising the accuracy of the lab test,” says Lance Liotta, codirector of George Mason’s Center for Applied Proteomics and Molecular Medicine (CAPMM), and coprincipal investigator on the study. “Shipped in a semi-dry state that will preserve target proteins and protects against specimen degradation, this approach will improve specificity, which has been a weakness of previous testing approaches." 

George Mason's Lyme disease test started as a student project in the Aspiring Scientists Summer Internship Program and has continued to gain momentum. In 2022, Luchini, Liotta, and the CAPMM team were one of 10 Phase 1 winners of the LymeX Diagnostics Prize by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Steven and Alexandra Cohen Foundation.

In 2023, CAPMM received $820,000 in federal funding to establish a clinic to help combat Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses. The project, championed by U.S. Representative Jennifer Wexton (D-VA), was part of the federal omnibus appropriations bill signed by President Joe Biden.