Antibodies to various mycoplasmas in patients with coronary heart disease.
BACKGROUND
Clinical and epidemiologic features of coronary heart disease may not be explained solely by established risk factors. The role of infectious pathogens in the development and rupture of atherosclerotic plaques remains elusive but an association between Chlamydia pneumoniae, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and CHD has been reported previously.


OBJECTIVE
To determine whether there is an association between mycoplasmal infections and CHD.


METHODS
We conducted a prospective cohort analysis of 150 consecutive hospitalized patients with CHD (85 with acute coronary syndrome and 65 admitted for unrelated reasons) and 98 healthy blood donors. Antibody titers for Mycoplasma pneumoniae, M. fermentans, M. hominis and Ureaplasma urealyticum were measured with the agglutination test or specific enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in all three groups of patients.


RESULTS
Analysis of the antibody titers did not reveal any significant difference in the presence of mycoplasmal antibodies between the patients with ACS, patients with known stable CHD hospitalized for non-CHD reasons, and healthy blood donors.


CONCLUSIONS
Determination of specific antibodies did not reveal a significant association among different types of mycoplasmal infection and CHD.
Barski
Leonid
L
Department of Medicine F, Soroka University Medical Center, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel. lbarski@bgu.ac.il
Nevzorov
Roman
R
Horowitz
Jacob
J
Horowitz
Shulamith
S
D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000276:immunology; D000372:Agglutination Tests; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000209:etiology / Q000276:immunology*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009174:Mycoplasma / Q000276:immunology*; D009175:Mycoplasma Infections / Q000150:complications; D016858:Mycoplasma fermentans / Q000276:immunology; D019535:Mycoplasma hominis / Q000276:immunology; D009177:Mycoplasma pneumoniae / Q000276:immunology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016990:Ureaplasma urealyticum / Q000276:immunology
D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial