Published Online
on November 4, 2002

A more recent version of this article appeared on November 19, 2002

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Submitted on June 27, 2002
Revised on September 26, 2002
Accepted on September 26, 2002

Lack of Association Between Serum Immunoreactivity and Chlamydia pneumoniae Detection in the Human Aortic Wall

Massimo Porqueddu MD, PhD^*, Rita Spirito MD, Alessandro Parolari MD, PhD, Marco Zanobini MD, PhD, Giulio Pompilio MD, PhD, Gianluca Polvani MD, Francesco Alamanni MD, Davide Stangalini MD, Elena Tremoli PhD, and Paolo Biglioli MD

From the Centro Cardiologico, Monzino Foundation, IRCCS, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, University of Milan, Italy; and Fleming Research, Institute of Molecular Biology (D.S.), Milan, Italy.

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: massimo.porqueddu{at}cardiologicomonzino.it.

Background—Only a few studies have focused the attention on the relation between elevated anti-Chlamydia pneumoniae (CP) antibodies and the detection of CP in the arterial wall. The aim of our study is thus to investigate the relationship between immune response to CP and detection of CP in the aortic walls of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Methods and Results—A specimen of aortic wall was obtained from 102 consecutive patients who underwent abdominal aneurysm repair. The possible presence of CP was studied by polymerase chain reaction and confirmed by nonradioactive DNA hybridization. Antibody response to CP was studied (IgG, IgA titers). We found 33 patients (32.4%) with CP DNA+. No correlation between CP DNA detection and antibody titers was found (IgG P=0.52, IgA P=0.66). High correlation between IgG and IgA titer was observed (P<0.01). Endovascular presence of CP and antibody titers was not related to the age of the patient.

Conclusions—CP antibody titers are not associated with the presence of CP in the aortic wall of patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Key words: atherosclerosis • aorta • infection • coronary disease

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