C. Pneumoniae

Introduction

Research has been performed in Finland on a certain strain of Chlamydia, C. pneumoniae, to determine if there is a correlation between the strain of Chlamydia, heart disease, atherosclerosis, and heart attacks within a certain genre of subjects. Although a causative reason has not been discovered for lesions of atherosclerosis, C. pneumoniae has been found within young adults with atherosclerosis (plaque buildup) in coronary lesions.

Materials & Methods

The first (TWAR) strain of Chlamydia was first discovered and isolated in a respiratory infection and was later declared the third species of Chlamydia, named C. pneumoniae. (Benditt, 1997). A left anterior coronary artery sample was obtained from 49 subjects ranging from 15 to 34 years of age. The tissues studied came from the multicenter research program entitled the Pathobiological Determinants of Aterosclerosis in Youth (PDAY). For this study, pathologic specimens and risk factor data were obtained from nearly three hundred thousand individuals fifteen to thirty-four years of age. The protocol for the study called for sixty specimens from white mailes, fifty percent from people with some atherosclerosis present in routine PDAY studies, and the other fifty percent from persons with no atherosclerotic lesions. Half of each group were to be in the age range of fifteen to twenty four years of age and twenty five to thirty four years of age. A total of forty nine specimens were available for this study, and due to an absence of some samples, the age group of fifteen to twenty four year olds were somewhat underrepresented. The samples were trimmed and paraggin embedded. Four-micrometer sections were mounted and stained for microscopic study with hematoxylin/eosin and with monoclonal antibodies. Slides of these samples were made and counter stained with methyl green. The use of ICC and PCR techniques were incorporated in attempting to find the present of C. Pneumoniae in tissue.

Results

Of all the test tissue samples, eight of them were found to be positive for C. pneumoniae by test of PCR or ICC (immunocytochemistry), seven of them contained athermanous plaque, eleven had intimal thickening, and the last thirty-one contained no lesions. C. Pneumoniae was not found in any coronary samples without lesions. The strain of C. pneumoniae was not present in coronary samples without lesions. Because of a limited amount of specimens within each disease and age grouping, the study was not broadened to explore the differences by race or gender. The study concluded with two significant results, first, that C. pneumoniae was found to be more abundant in younger people with athermanous plaque lesions of the coronary arteries. And second, within the controlled samples/subjects that contained no atherosclerosis, C. pneumoniae was not found bye use of ICC and PCR