Demonstration of Chlamydophila pneumoniae and Chlamydia Stress Protein, HSP-60 in Heart Muscle Tissue

There has been much attension to the association between Chlamydophila pneumoniae and athrosclerosis since C. pneumoniae was demonstrated in macropharges, and vascular smooth muscle cells of atheroma tissues. There are few data demonstrating whether C. pneumoniae is present in other tissues than atherosclerotic tissues. We surveyd samples of heart tissue from 10 patients with ischemic heart disease and 10 patiens with other disease by immunohistochemical staining with monoclonal antibodies against C. pneumoniae and Chlamydia stress protein 60 (C. HSP-60). In all, 11 out of 20 (55.0%) samples were positive for C. pneumoniae and 7 out of 20 (35.0%) for Chlamydia HSP-60. In patients with ischemic heart disease, positive rates were found significantly higher, that is, 9 out of 10 (90.0%) were positive for C. pneumoniae and 6 out of 10 (60.0%) for Chlamydia HSP-60. These results indicate the common presence of C. pneumoniae in heart tissue in older patients with ischemic heart diseases.