Led by the La Jolla Institute for Allergy & Immunology and Albany Medical College, the researchers said their finding -- based on a mouse model of the disease -- demonstrates white blood cells are central to clearing the bacterial infection and reducing the intensity and duration of arthritis associated with Lyme disease.

"Our findings are that the NK T cells are critical to preventing the chronic inflammatory infection that causes Lyme arthritis and they participate in clearing the bacteria which cause it," said Mitchell Kronenberg, president of the La Jolla Institute and the study's co-senior author.

"What this study demonstrates is that NK T cells are an important part of our defense against Lyme disease," said Albany College Associate Professor Timothy Sellati, co-senior author of the study. "This offers the possibility that we can exploit that knowledge therapeutically and potentially develop immunological agents that can trigger more NK T cells to aide in fighting this disease."

The research was reported in last week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.