Abstract
The purpose of this study was to provide further insight into the effective relevance
of the association between Chlamydia pneumoniae and MS. We evaluated by ELISA technique cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum levels
of anti-C. pneumoniae IgG in 46 relapsing–remitting (RR), 14 secondary progressive (SP) and 11 primary
progressive (PP) MS patients grouped according to clinical and Magnetic Resonance
Imaging (MRI) evidence of disease activity. Fifty-one patients with other inflammatory
neurological disorders (OIND) and 52 with non-inflammatory neurological disorders
(NIND) were used as controls. A C. pneumoniae-specific intrathecal IgG synthesis as detected by the relative specific index was
present in a small proportion of MS (17%), OIND (22%) and NIND (2%) patients and was
significantly more frequent in MS and in OIND than in NIND (p<0.001) and in SP and PP MS than in RR MS patients (p<0.02). Among the patients with C. pneumoniae-specific intratecally produced antibodies, CSF high-affinity anti-C. pneumoniae IgG were found in the majority of SP or PP MS, occasionally in OIND, but not in RR
MS and NIND patients. These findings confirm that the presence of a humoral immune
response to C. pneumoniae within the central nervous system (CNS) is not selectively restricted to MS, but
is shared by several inflammatory neurological conditions. In addition, our results
suggest that an intrathecal production of C. pneumoniae-specific high-affinity IgG can occur in a subset of patients with MS progressive
forms in which a C. pneumoniae brain chronic persistent infection may play an important pathogenetic role.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Accepted:
September 24,
2003
Received in revised form:
September 19,
2003
Received:
July 15,
2003
Identification
Copyright
© 2003 Elsevier B.V. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
