Linnanmäki E, Leinonen M, Mattila K, Nieminen M S, Valtonen V, Saikku P
Department of Virology, University of Helsinki, Finland.
Circulation. 1993 Apr;87(4):1130-4. doi: 10.1161/01.cir.87.4.1130.
An association of chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection to coronary heart disease has been suggested recently. In a recent study, we demonstrated circulating immune complexes containing chlamydial genus-specific lipopolysaccharide in patients with coronary heart disease. The objective of the present study was to investigate whether C. pneumoniae species-specific immune complexes are present in chronic coronary heart disease.
The presence of Chlamydia-specific circulating immune complexes was studied in 46 patients with chronic coronary heart disease and in control subjects. Chlamydial lipopolysaccharide-containing immune complexes were detected with the antigen-specific capture method, and they were present in 41% of patients and 15% of control subjects (p < 0.01). The presence of C. pneumoniae antibodies in circulating immune complexes was studied by testing the specificity of antibodies derived from isolated and dissociated immune complexes by microimmunofluorescence testing and immunoblotting. The C. pneumoniae indexes based on the relative amount of immune complex-derived antibodies and free antibodies were significantly higher among patients compared with control subjects (median, 1/8 versus 1/16; p < 0.001). Immune complex bound antibodies showed specificity for 98-kd and 42-kd proteins of C. pneumoniae.
The results suggest that the majority of the patients with chronic coronary heart disease have a chronic C. pneumoniae infection in which chlamydial components have an easy access to circulation to form immune complexes with preexisting antibodies. These findings give further evidence for the association of chronic C. pneumoniae infection with coronary heart disease.
最近有人提出慢性肺炎衣原体感染与冠心病之间存在关联。在最近的一项研究中，我们证实在冠心病患者中存在含有衣原体属特异性脂多糖的循环免疫复合物。本研究的目的是调查慢性冠心病患者中是否存在肺炎衣原体种特异性免疫复合物。
在46例慢性冠心病患者和对照组中研究了衣原体特异性循环免疫复合物的存在情况。采用抗原特异性捕获法检测含衣原体脂多糖的免疫复合物，结果显示41%的患者和15%的对照组中存在该复合物（p<0.01）。通过微量免疫荧光检测和免疫印迹法检测分离和解离的免疫复合物中抗体的特异性，研究循环免疫复合物中肺炎衣原体抗体的存在情况。基于免疫复合物衍生抗体和游离抗体相对量的肺炎衣原体指数在患者中显著高于对照组（中位数分别为1/8和1/16；p<0.001）。免疫复合物结合抗体对肺炎衣原体的98-kd和42-kd蛋白具有特异性。
结果表明，大多数慢性冠心病患者存在慢性肺炎衣原体感染，其中衣原体成分易于进入循环，与预先存在的抗体形成免疫复合物。这些发现为慢性肺炎衣原体感染与冠心病之间的关联提供了进一步的证据。
