Low prevalence of Chlamydia psittaci infection in French patients with ocular adnexal lymphomas (OAL)

Abstract

17536 Background: A high prevalence of Chlamydia psittaci infection in both tumor tissues and peripheral blood mononuclear cells of Italian patients with OAL has been reported (Ferreri AJ, Guidoboni M, Ponzoni M, De Conciliis C, Dell’Oro S, Fleischhauer K, et al. Evidence for an association between Chlamydia psittaci and ocular adnexal lymphomas. J Natl Cancer Inst 2004;96(8):586–94.) This association has not been confirmed in some regions of the USA, and no data from other European countries are available. We therefore investigated the presence of DNA of C. psittaci, C. trachomatis, and C. pneumoniae DNA in French patients (pts) with OAL. Methods: Tumor samples from ophthalmologic biopsies of 16 OAL pts (10 conjunctiva, 6 orbit) were included in the study. Histologic type were MALT-type (n = 8), lymphoplasmocytic (n = 6), follicular (n = 1), and diffuse large B-cell (n = 1) lymphomas. Two other groups of lymphoproliferative disease were analyzed as controls. First, ten cases of nodal lymphomas (follicular and marginal zone B-cell lymphomas), and ten cases of reactive lymphoid hyperplasia were analyzed. A multiplex touchdown, enzyme time-release PCR designed to simultaneously detect C. psittaci, C. pneumoniae and C. trachomatis DNA sequences was performed. PCR analyses were performed in duplicate in an independent setting either inat the Curie Institut Curie in e, Paris, and in the National Cancer Institute, Aviano. Results: DNA of C. psittaci DNA was detected in the tumoral tissue of only one patient with follicular OAL. No DNA sequences of C. psittaci, C. pneumoniae and C. trachomatis DNA sequences were was detected in all any of the other OALs, or controls. Conclusions: The prevalence of C. psittaci infection in French pts with OAL was sensibly significantly lower than that reported in Italian series. Cross-controls between the two laboratories indicate that this finding is not due to different experimental conditions. Discrepancies may be explained by an heterogeneous epidemiological distribution of the bacterial infection. Large studies aimed to investigate geographical variations in the prevalence of this association are warranted. No significant financial relationships to disclose.