Abstract
The correlation of Chlamydia pneumoniae to coronary artery disease (CAD) in Jordan was investigated in this study. Totals of 361 atherosclerotic patients and 392 apparently healthy controls of both sexes were enrolled. C. pneumoniae-specific IgG antibodies were measured by the microimmunofluorescence assay (MIF). The presence of the bacterial DNA in the blood by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was also tested. The overall IgG seroprevalence, estimated at a titer of 1/16, was insignificantly higher in patients (75.9%) than in controls (71.7%). About 59.3% of patients demonstrated seropositivity at titers ≤ 1/256, which are suggestive of chronic or presumed past infection, whereas 54.1% of controls were seropositive at these titers (p > 0.05). Analysis of gender-specific seroprevalences revealed no obvious relation between C. pneumoniae and atherosclerosis in males (78.9% and 77.9% in atherosclerotic and control males, respectively; p > 0.05). However, a significantly elevated seropositivity was detected in atherosclerotic females (71.7%) compared with control females (64.2%). On the other hand, the PCR-based detection of C. pneumoniae DNA failed to correlate the bacterium to atherosclerosis. We were unable to show a strong association between C. pneumoniae and CAD, potentially because of the presence of high seroprevalence of C. pneumoniae antibodies and the unreliability of the whole blood-based nested PCR technique used.
Highlights
The correlation of Chlamydia pneumoniae to coronary artery disease (CAD) in Jordan was investigated in this study
The link between C. pneumoniae and atherosclerosis was first examined based on the seroprevalence of IgG in Jordanian patients with confirmed CAD
The seropositivity of C. pneumoniae antibodies in sera from a total of 361 patients was compared with that in sera from 392 controls
Summary
The correlation of Chlamydia pneumoniae to coronary artery disease (CAD) in Jordan was investigated in this study. Numerous reports have recently focused on consequences of infection of a wide variety of viruses and bacteria in the genesis and progression of atherosclerosis [4,5]. Among these pathogens is C. pneumoniae, an obligate intracellular bacterium, which is responsible primarily for pulmonary infections such as sinusitis, pharyngitis, and pneumonia [6,7]. Based on the detection of elevated levels of specific anti-C. pneumoniae IgG in sera collected from patients with coronary heart disease (CAD), a study published in 1988 first proposed an association between C. pneumoniae and atherosclerosis [8]. Some in vivo studies have demonstrated that C. pneumoniae infection may accelerate the progression of atherosclerotic plaques in animal models [4,14]
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