Document Type : Original Article
Authors
1 Department of Immunology
2 Department of Cardiology
3 Department of Histology, Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences, Rafsanjan, Iran
Abstract
Background: Inflammation and infectious agents such as Chlamydia pneumoniae have been associated with cardiovascular disease.
Objective: To evaluate the serum high sensitivity C - reactive protein (hs-CRP) and antibodies against Chlamydia pneumoniae and Chlamydial heat shock protein-60 (Cp-HSP60) in patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD).
Methods: 62 patients with IHD having either acute myocardial infarction (AMI; n=31) or unstable an-gina (UA; n=31) and 31 sex- and age- matched healthy subjects as a control group were en-rolled in this study. Serum samples of participants were tested for the presence of hs-CRP and antibodies against C. pneumoniae and Cp-HSP60 using ELISA method.
Results: The sero-prevalence of anti-C. pneumoniae antibody in AMI group (93.5%) or UA group (90.3%) was significantly higher than the control group (61.3%; p<0.001). The sero-prevalence of anti-Cp-HSP60 IgG was 22.6% in healthy subjects with mean end titer of 43.1 ± 6.32. The seropositive rates of anti-Cp-HSP60 were 48.4%, 54.8% and 51.6% in AMI, UA and the overall IHD groups with mean end titers of 94 ± 22.86, 113.8 ± 24.25 and 103.9 ± 16.57, respectively. Both the seroprevalence and the mean titer of anti-Cp-HSP60 in patients groups were significantly higher than those observed in the control group (p<0.04 and p<0.03, respectively). Moreover, the mean serum hs-CRP levels was significantly higher in the IHD group as compared to the control group (21.6 μg/ml ± 3.73 vs 2.5 μg/ml ± 0.52; p<0.00001). The mean serum hs-CRP levels of AMI (30.3 μg/ml ± 6.07) or UA (12.9 μg/ml ± 3.85) groups were also significantly higher than those observed in the control group (p<0.00001 and p<0.001, respectively). Further-more, the difference of the mean serum hs-CRP levels between AMI and UA groups was also significant (p<0.02).
Conclusions: These results showed that the seroprevalence of antibodies against C. pneumoniae and Cp-HSP60 and the serum levels of hs-CRP and anti-Cp-HSP60 IgG were higher in patients with IHD.
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