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Anyone hear of CD57
Hi -
Has anyone had this bloodwork done? I am thinking of having it, however not sure if it will do any good. I think it may tell me if I have Chronic Lyme. I had a positive IGM western blot result a couple of years ago, with 23 and 41 reactive. Today I went to my reg Dr. to ask if he will write me up a script for this CD57 since Quest does not do it, He did, must he asked me if we had a definite diagnosis. I said just what I said above stating that 23 is lyme specific. Was I right by saying this? He definitely will not give me an affirmative answer and he gave me doxy at the time of diagnosis(couple of years ago, almost three). Going through what I went through I truly truly believe I have lyme. I now test negative BUT...had a cortesone injection couple weeks ago, not knowing I shouldn't have. And I was sick for a week...bad heaches, ear pain, palpitations, bad acid reflux. I think it stirred them up and made me sick. Now I want to get this CD57 but wondering if it will give me any peace - I never did go to a LLMD. Thanks for listening to me, let me know your thoughts please. Thanks
Has anyone had this bloodwork done? I am thinking of having it, however not sure if it will do any good. I think it may tell me if I have Chronic Lyme. I had a positive IGM western blot result a couple of years ago, with 23 and 41 reactive. Today I went to my reg Dr. to ask if he will write me up a script for this CD57 since Quest does not do it, He did, must he asked me if we had a definite diagnosis. I said just what I said above stating that 23 is lyme specific. Was I right by saying this? He definitely will not give me an affirmative answer and he gave me doxy at the time of diagnosis(couple of years ago, almost three). Going through what I went through I truly truly believe I have lyme. I now test negative BUT...had a cortesone injection couple weeks ago, not knowing I shouldn't have. And I was sick for a week...bad heaches, ear pain, palpitations, bad acid reflux. I think it stirred them up and made me sick. Now I want to get this CD57 but wondering if it will give me any peace - I never did go to a LLMD. Thanks for listening to me, let me know your thoughts please. Thanks
PS about the quote above from Health Centers of America ... I don't know who they are, looks like perhaps a smallish clinic in the Midwest, and just wanted to say I can't vouch for their opinions, but the general description of the CD57 test seems like what I have read elsewhere, like on the ILADS website, which I would tend to credit with being authoritative.
The Health Centers of America website provides the following explanation of CD57 testing:
"The CD-57 Stricker Panel Test
"Our ability to measure CD-57 counts represents a breakthrough in Chronic Lyme Disease treatment. It can be used to help determine how active the infection is, how well the treatment is working, and whether, after treatment ends, a relapse is likely to occur!
"This is how it works: Chronic Lyme infections are known to suppress the immune system. The Lyme spirochete can affect all major cell types of the immune system, but it most clearly can impact a specific subset of the natural killer cells. This is called the CD-57 subset. Just as in HIV infection, which suppresses T-cell counts, Lyme suppresses Natural killer cell count such as CD57. As in HIV infection, where abnormally low T-cell counts are routinely used as a marker of how active the infection is, in Lyme we can use the CD-57 count to indicate how active the Lyme infection is. When Lyme is active, the CD-57 count is suppressed. We currently are having our tests run by LabCorp because published research on this test was based on their methods. At this lab, the expected range for the CD 57 count is above 60. However, in the chronic Lyme patient, CD-57 counts are usually well below 60 and may be at risk with levels of 60-100.
"This test can be run at the start of therapy, then every several months to document the effectiveness of treatment. One hopes to see a stable number or a rising trend over time. When antibiotic therapy is finally at an end, if the CD-57 count is not above 60, then a Lyme relapse is more likely to occur.
"[In a] review of the effects of other infections, only Lyme spirochetes lowers the CD57. Following is the criteria established by research.
"Test interpretation: Low CD57 occurs in chronic Lyme or when the disease has been active for over 1 year. The count reflects the degree of infection. It is not a diagnostic test but is used as a marker for Lyme being active. Test done by LabCorp.
# >200 is normal
# 60 Lyme activity indicates improvement"
My own CD57 has ranged from a low of 60 to a high of 121 and everywhere in between; I seem to have a fairly strong immune system.
Band 23 is specific to B. burgdorferi, the bacteria that cause Lyme. A list of the bands shown on the more detailed test run by Igenex is found at truthaboutlymedisease [dot] com.
ILADS [dot] org has a section of diagnostic guidelines for Lyme, written by Dr Joseph Burrascano. Your MD might also be interested in reading them.
If you can see an LLMD, it might move things along faster for you, but your current MD may be fine also. It's a judgment call. Best wishes --
"The CD-57 Stricker Panel Test
"Our ability to measure CD-57 counts represents a breakthrough in Chronic Lyme Disease treatment. It can be used to help determine how active the infection is, how well the treatment is working, and whether, after treatment ends, a relapse is likely to occur!
"This is how it works: Chronic Lyme infections are known to suppress the immune system. The Lyme spirochete can affect all major cell types of the immune system, but it most clearly can impact a specific subset of the natural killer cells. This is called the CD-57 subset. Just as in HIV infection, which suppresses T-cell counts, Lyme suppresses Natural killer cell count such as CD57. As in HIV infection, where abnormally low T-cell counts are routinely used as a marker of how active the infection is, in Lyme we can use the CD-57 count to indicate how active the Lyme infection is. When Lyme is active, the CD-57 count is suppressed. We currently are having our tests run by LabCorp because published research on this test was based on their methods. At this lab, the expected range for the CD 57 count is above 60. However, in the chronic Lyme patient, CD-57 counts are usually well below 60 and may be at risk with levels of 60-100.
"This test can be run at the start of therapy, then every several months to document the effectiveness of treatment. One hopes to see a stable number or a rising trend over time. When antibiotic therapy is finally at an end, if the CD-57 count is not above 60, then a Lyme relapse is more likely to occur.
"[In a] review of the effects of other infections, only Lyme spirochetes lowers the CD57. Following is the criteria established by research.
"Test interpretation: Low CD57 occurs in chronic Lyme or when the disease has been active for over 1 year. The count reflects the degree of infection. It is not a diagnostic test but is used as a marker for Lyme being active. Test done by LabCorp.
# >200 is normal
# 60 Lyme activity indicates improvement"
My own CD57 has ranged from a low of 60 to a high of 121 and everywhere in between; I seem to have a fairly strong immune system.
Band 23 is specific to B. burgdorferi, the bacteria that cause Lyme. A list of the bands shown on the more detailed test run by Igenex is found at truthaboutlymedisease [dot] com.
ILADS [dot] org has a section of diagnostic guidelines for Lyme, written by Dr Joseph Burrascano. Your MD might also be interested in reading them.
If you can see an LLMD, it might move things along faster for you, but your current MD may be fine also. It's a judgment call. Best wishes --
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