title: Lack of strong association of Chlamydia pneumoniae and atherosclerosis in a Jordanian population.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The correlation of Chlamydia pneumoniae to coronary artery disease (CAD) in Jordan was investigated in this study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Totals of 361 atherosclerotic patients and 392 apparently healthy controls of both sexes were enrolled. C. pneumoniae-specific IgG antibodies were measured by the microimmunofluorescence assay (MIF). The presence of the bacterial DNA in the blood by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was also tested.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The overall IgG seroprevalence, estimated at a titer of 1/16, was insignificantly higher in patients (75.9%) than in controls (71.7%). About 59.3% of patients demonstrated seropositivity at titers ≤ 1/256, which are suggestive of chronic or presumed past infection, whereas 54.1% of controls were seropositive at these titers (p > 0.05). Analysis of gender-specific seroprevalences revealed no obvious relation between C. pneumoniae and atherosclerosis in males (78.9% and 77.9% in atherosclerotic and control males, respectively; p > 0.05). However, a significantly elevated seropositivity was detected in atherosclerotic females (71.7%) compared with control females (64.2%). On the other hand, the PCR-based detection of C. pneumoniae DNA failed to correlate the bacterium to atherosclerosis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  We were unable to show a strong association between C. pneumoniae and CAD, potentially because of the presence of high seroprevalence of C. pneumoniae antibodies and the unreliability of the whole blood-based nested PCR technique used.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Science, The University of Jordan, Amman, Jordan. alyounes@ju.edu.jo.
authors.forename: Hesham M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Al-Younes
authors.forename: Mahmoud A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Abu Abeeleh
authors.forename: Basem M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Jaber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial / Q000097:blood*; D050197:Atherosclerosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology*; D023521:Chlamydophila Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D016993:Chlamydophila pneumoniae / Q000276:immunology*; D004269:DNA, Bacterial / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood; D007597:Jordan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D015995:Prevalence
chemical_list: D000907:Antibodies, Bacterial; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D007074:Immunoglobulin G