Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) pneumoniae in the Alzheimer's Brain

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2006

Abstract

We assessed the presence and characteristics of the intracellular pathogen Chlamydophila (Chlamydia) pneumoniae in brain-tissue samples from 25 patients with late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 27 non-AD control individuals. 20/27 AD patients, but only 3/27 controls, were PCR-positive in multiple assays targetting the Cpn1046 and Cpn0695 genes. Culture of the organism from brain-tissue homogenate from one AD patient, and assessment of various chlamydial transcripts in RNA preparations from several patients, demonstrated that the organisms were viable and metabolically active in those samples. Immunohistochemical analyses showed that astrocytes, microglia, and neurons all served as host cells for C. pneumoniae in the AD brain, and that infected cells were found in close proximity to both neuritic senile plaques and neurofibrillary tangles in the AD brain. These observations confirm and significantly extend our earlier study suggesting that this unusual pathogen may play a role in the neuropathogenesis characteristic of AD.

Publication Title

FEMS Immunology and Medical Microbiology Pathogens and Disease

Volume

48

Issue

3

First Page

355

Last Page

366

PubMed ID

17052268

Comments

This article was published in FEMS Immunology & Medical Microbiology Pathogens & Disease, Volume 48, Issue 3, December 2006, Pages 355–366.

The published version is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1574-695X.2006.00154.x

Copyright © 1999–2013 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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