This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Fujita, M Articles by Yagita, M Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Fujita, M Articles by Yagita, M Pubmed/NCBI databases Substance via MeSH Medline Plus Health Information Autoimmune Diseases Chlamydia Infections Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Acute Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases

Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Kitano Hospital, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute, Osaka, Japan masaaki_fujita_masaaki_fujita{at}yahoo.co.jp

S Hatachi

Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Kitano Hospital, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute, Osaka, Japan

M Yagita

Department of Clinical Immunology and Rheumatology, Kitano Hospital, Tazuke Kofukai Medical Research Institute, Osaka, Japan

Autoimmune diseases have several etiologies. Acute Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) infection may be involved in the pathogenesis of several autoimmune diseases. In this study, 82 patients with several autoimmune diseases and 70 controls were enrolled, and acute C. pneumoniae infection has been evaluated by monitoring the levels of IgM antibody. Chlamydia pneumoniae IgM positive results were observed in 29% (P < 0.05) of the patients with several autoimmune diseases and in 10% of the controls. Chlamydia pneumoniae IgM positive cases were more frequent among the patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA; 30%, P < 0.05), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; 28.0%, P < 0.05), dermatomyositis/polymyositis (23%, NS), myeloperoxidase-antineutrophil cytoplasmic autoantibody (MPO-ANCA)-associated vasculitis (33%, NS), adult onset of Still’s disease (29%, NS) and giant cell arteritis/Takayasu arteritis (50%, NS) than among the controls. This positive frequency was statistically significant in RA and SLE. These results suggest that acute C. pneumoniae infection is probably involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases.

Key Words: autoimmune diseases • C. pneumoniae

Lupus, Vol. 18, No. 2, 164-168 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0961203308096069


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M Iwamoto, S Onishi, and S Minota Strong correlation in the serum levels of IgM rheumatoid factor and IgM anti-Chlamydia pneumoniae antibody Lupus, October 1, 2009; 18(12): 1124 - 1124. [PDF]