Campbell Lee Ann, Kuo Cho-cho
Department of Pathobiology, Box 357238, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98155, USA.
Nat Rev Microbiol. 2004 Jan;2(1):23-32. doi: 10.1038/nrmicro796.
Cardiovascular disease, of which atherosclerosis is an important component, is the leading cause of death in the western world. Although there are well-defined risk factors for atherosclerosis, these factors do not account for all incidences of the disease. Because atherosclerotic processes are typified by chronic inflammatory responses, which are similar to those that are elicited by chronic infection, the role of infection in promoting or accelerating atherosclerosis has received renewed attention. This review focuses on the accumulating evidence that chronic infection with Chlamydia pneumoniae, a ubiquitous human respiratory pathogen, might contribute to atherosclerotic lesion progression.
心血管疾病是西方世界的主要死因，动脉粥样硬化是其重要组成部分。尽管动脉粥样硬化有明确的危险因素，但这些因素并不能解释该疾病的所有发病情况。由于动脉粥样硬化过程以慢性炎症反应为特征，这与慢性感染引发的炎症反应相似，因此感染在促进或加速动脉粥样硬化中的作用再次受到关注。本综述重点关注越来越多的证据，即肺炎衣原体这种普遍存在的人类呼吸道病原体的慢性感染可能会促进动脉粥样硬化病变的进展。
