Chlamydia pneumoniae: An Etiologic Agent for Late-Onset Dementia

Authors

Brian J. Balin PhD, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic MedicineFollow
Christine Hammond, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic MedicineFollow
Christopher S. Little, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic MedicineFollow
Susan Hingley, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic MedicineFollow
Zein Al-Atrache, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine
Denah Appelt, Philadelphia College of Osteopathic MedicineFollow
Judith A Whittum-Hudson
Alan P Hudson

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-1-2018

Abstract

The disease known as late-onset Alzheimer's disease is a neurodegenerative condition recognized as the single most common form of senile dementia. The condition is sporadic and has been attributed to neuronal damage and loss, both of which have been linked to the accumulation of protein deposits in the brain. Significant progress has been made over the past two decades regarding our overall understanding of the apparently pathogenic entities that arise in the affected brain, both for early-onset disease, which constitutes approximately 5% of all cases, as well as late-onset disease, which constitutes the remainder of cases. Observable neuropathology includes: neurofibrillary tangles, neuropil threads, neuritic senile plaques and often deposits of amyloid around the cerebrovasculature. Although many studies have provided a relatively detailed knowledge of these putatively pathogenic entities, understanding of the events that initiate and support the biological processes generating them and the subsequent observable neuropathology and neurodegeneration remain limited. This is especially true in the case of late-onset disease. Although early-onset Alzheimer's disease has been shown conclusively to have genetic roots, the detailed etiologic initiation of late-onset disease without such genetic origins has remained elusive. Over the last 15 years, current and ongoing work has implicated infection in the etiology and pathogenesis of late-onset dementia. Infectious agents reported to be associated with disease initiation are various, including several viruses and pathogenic bacterial species. We have reported extensively regarding an association between late-onset disease and infection with the intracellular bacterial pathogen

Publication Title

Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience

Volume

10

PubMed ID

30356749

Comments

This article was published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, Volume 10.

The published version is available at https://doi.org/10.3389/fnagi.2018.00302.

Copyright © 2018 the authors. CC BY 4.0.

Recommended Citation

Balin, Brian J. PhD; Hammond, Christine; Little, Christopher S.; Hingley, Susan; Al-Atrache, Zein; Appelt, Denah; Whittum-Hudson, Judith A; and Hudson, Alan P, "Chlamydia pneumoniae: An Etiologic Agent for Late-Onset Dementia" (2018). PCOM Scholarly Works. 1960.
https://digitalcommons.pcom.edu/scholarly_papers/1960