title: Chlamydial bacteriophage: No role in acute coronary events?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  A relationship between Chlamydia pneumoniae infection and acute coronary syndromes has not been consistently found in published studies. It has been hypothesized that a bacteriophage-infected subset of C pneumoniae may be uniquely equipped to promote atherosclerosis and acute coronary syndromes through the expression of phage genes.
  
  
  METHODS
  The authors performed a pilot case-control study of acute coronary events. Case and control subjects were characterized demographically and according to recognized coronary risk factors. These subjects also provided serum for the detection of antibody to the elementary bodies of C pneumoniae and antibody to the Vp1 protein coded by the phage. Bivariate and multivariate comparisons were performed using statistics appropriate for paired analyses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Antibodies to C pneumoniae, Vp1 protein or both were not associated with acute coronary events by bivariate or multivariate analysis. As expected, case subjects were significantly more likely to have hypertension, hypercholesterolemia or diabetes mellitus.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study adds to a growing body of literature that does not support the hypothesized relationship between C pneumoniae (or a phage-infected subset of C pneumoniae) and acute coronary syndromes.
authors.affiliation: University of British Columbia Centre for Disease Control.
authors.forename: David M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Patrick
authors.forename: Karuna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Karunakaran
authors.forename: Adrian R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Levy
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Gin
authors.forename: Valencia
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Remple
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chong
authors.forename: Heather
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Abbey
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tarry
authors.forename: Caixia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Robert C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Brunham