Wordsworth B P, Hughes R A, Allan I, Keat A C, Bell J I
Institute of Molecular Medicine, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford.
Br J Rheumatol. 1990 Jun;29(3):208-10. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/29.3.208.
The polymerase chain reaction was used to detect the presence of a plasmid essential for the growth of Chlamydia trachomatis. As few as 10 copies of the plasmid in the initial reaction mix were detectable using this technique. In contrast, chlamydial DNA was not detectable in the knee joints of nine patients with definite sexually acquired reactive arthritis (SARA) or nine patients with suspected SARA. Five patients with an undifferentiated seronegative lower limb oligoarthropathy, one with Crohn's disease and another with post-enteric reactive arthritis had evidence of intra-articular chlamydial antigens as judged by fluorescein-labelled monoclonal antibody staining of joint material but, again, no chlamydia plasmid DNA was detected. The nature of the immunofluorescent staining seen in some of these samples remains to be elucidated. It could be due to the presence of chlamydial outer membrane protein or lipopolysaccharide antigens in the joints, either free or in immune complexes, or it may be artefactual. Our results indicate that viable C. trachomatis is not present in the joints of the patients in this study even in the presence of chlamydial antigen detected by fluorescence antibody testing.
采用聚合酶链反应检测沙眼衣原体生长所必需的质粒的存在情况。使用该技术，初始反应混合物中低至10个质粒拷贝均可被检测到。相比之下，在9例确诊为性传播获得性反应性关节炎（SARA）的患者或9例疑似SARA的患者的膝关节中未检测到衣原体DNA。5例未分化血清阴性下肢寡关节炎患者、1例克罗恩病患者和另1例肠后反应性关节炎患者，通过对关节材料进行荧光素标记单克隆抗体染色判断，有证据表明关节内存在衣原体抗原，但同样未检测到衣原体质粒DNA。在其中一些样本中观察到的免疫荧光染色的性质仍有待阐明。这可能是由于关节中存在游离或处于免疫复合物中的衣原体外膜蛋白或脂多糖抗原，也可能是人为造成的。我们的结果表明，即使在荧光抗体检测中检测到衣原体抗原，本研究中的患者关节中也不存在活的沙眼衣原体。
