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The establishment of <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> infection depends on transmission of the spirochetes, as well as the immune response generated in the skin after a bite. Here we aim to investigate the local immune response in the skin after a tick bite and assess the possible direct effects of <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic>, by applying gene expression analysis of the immune response in skin exposed to <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic>-infected and non-infected ticks, respectively.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Skin biopsies from the study participants were taken 7\u201310\u00a0days after the tick-bite. The ticks and skin biopsies were analysed by real-time PCR for <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> spp. and other tick-borne pathogens. Dermal transcriptome profiles derived from RNA sequencing with focus on immune system regulation were created. In addition, we performed enrichment analysis of dermal transcriptome profiles with focus on immune system regulation.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Skin biopsies exposed to a <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic>-positive tick induced an overall higher expression of immune-related genes. Cytokines involved in the regulation of T-cell and macrophage activation, pro-inflammatory regulators and Toll-like receptor 2, 3 and 7 involved in pathogen recognition were upregulated in skin exposed to <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic>, although <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> DNA was not detected in the biopsies.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>The evidence of upregulation of genes in <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> exposed skin suggests an influence on the immune system of ticks and spirochetes. Characterization of <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic>-associated gene expression signatures in the skin could contribute to future diagnostics and increase our understanding of the development of various manifestations of <jats:italic>Borrelia<\/jats:italic> infection.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1186\/s12879-024-10279-2","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,18]],"date-time":"2024-12-18T09:40:32Z","timestamp":1734514832000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":3,"title":["The AxBioTick study \u2013 immune gene expression signatures in human skin bitten by Borrelia-infected versus non-infected ticks"],"prefix":"10.1186","volume":"24","author":[{"given":"Nellie Carlstr\u00f6mer","family":"Berth\u00e9n","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Samuel","family":"Cronhjort","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marika","family":"Nordberg","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Per-Eric","family":"Lindgren","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Marie","family":"Larsson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Peter","family":"Wilhelmsson","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Johanna","family":"Sj\u00f6wall","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,12,18]]},"reference":[{"issue":"3","key":"10279_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"233","DOI":"10.1093\/femsre\/fux047","volume":"42","author":"G Stanek","year":"2018","unstructured":"Stanek G, Strle F. 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