We investigated the role of NKT cells in immunity to Chlamydia pneumoniae and Chlamydia muridarum infections using a combination of knockout mice and specific cellular activation approaches. The NKT-deficient mice showed exacerbated susceptibility to C. pneumoniae infection, but more resistance to C. muridarum infection. Activation of NKT reduced C. pneumoniae in vivo growth, but enhanced C. mu...

Both cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Chlamydia pneumoniae have been associated with atherosclerosis. CMV is believed to exist in host tissues in a latent state with periodic reactivation. This study was designed to determine whether C. pneumoniae infection stimulates the expression of CMV genes. Transactivation of the CMV major immediate early promoter (MIEP) is essential for viral gene expression an...

Chlamydia pneumoniae, a major cause of community-acquired pneumonia, primarily infects the respiratory tract. Chronic infection of nonrespiratory sites, such as the vascular wall, the brain or blood monocytes, requires evasion from the lungs and spreading via the bloodstream. The cell types involved in dissemination are insufficiently characterised. In this study, New Zealand White rabbits were...

The most common clinical signs, host responses and radiographic patterns were studied in 203 Italian children hospitalized for community-acquired pneumonia in order to clarify the role of clinical and radiological characteristics in the diagnosis of Mycoplasma pneumoniae and/or Chlamydia pneumoniae infections. Antibody measurements in paired sera and polymerase chain reaction on nasopharyngeal ...

An emerging body of evidence suggests that half of asthma in both children and adults is associated with chronic lung infection. The aim of the present study was to determine the frequency of viable Chlamydia pneumoniae (Cp) and C. trachomatis (Ct) in the respiratory tracts of paediatric patients with chronic respiratory diseases. Bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) samples obtained from 182 ch...

Introduction Chlamydia pneumoniae was initially recognized as a cause of acute lower respiratory tract infections such as pneumonia and bronchitis in both adults and children (1-7), hence the species name “pneumoniae.” Moreover, C. pneumoniae was noted in some individuals to cause a persistent respiratory tract infection following an acute infection (8), which is entirely consistent with the kn...

To establish a novel method for the efficient isolation of Chlamydia pneumoniae, experiments were performed to determine the effects of EDTA or trypsin treatment of C. pneumoniae on its adsorption and inclusion body formation. Treatment of C. pneumoniae with 0.1% trypsin or 1 mM EDTA significantly increased inclusion body-forming activity from 8,000- to 10,000-fold higher than that of the contr...

The authors investigated the frequency and quantity of intrathecal antibody synthesis against Chlamydia pneumoniae and the presence of C pneumoniae antigen in 25 children with MS. C pneumoniae genome was present in two children. In seven children an intrathecal synthesis of C pneumoniae antibodies was detected, representing only a small part of the total intrathecal immunoglobulin G, suggesting...

an association between chlamydia pneumoniae (c. pneumoniae) and cardiovascular disease has been demonstrated. in this study, we aimed to study this potential relationship in 105 iranian patients. coronary artery specimens from 105 iranian patients undergoing cabg were analyzed by pcr method for c. pneumoniae. serological evaluation for c. pneumoniae igg and igm was performed using elisa. 53 spe...

Three touchdown enzyme time release (TETR)-PCR assays were used to amplify different DNA sequences in the variable regions of the 16S and 16S-23S spacer rRNA genes specific for Chlamydia trachomatis, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Chlamydia psittaci as improved tests for sensitive diagnosis and rapid species differentiation. The TETR-PCR protocol used 60 cycles of amplification, which provided impro...