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CD14 promoter polymorphism −159C>T is associated with susceptibility to chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in peripheral blood monocytes

Abstract

Chlamydia pneumoniae uses peripheral blood monocytes (PBMC) for systemic dissemination and has been linked to atherogenesis by inflammation mediated via TLR2/4 and CD14. We found 12.8% of 610 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients of Central European background to be chronically infected with C. pneumoniae based on the repeated detection of chlamydial DNA in PBMC. Among those the −159C>T CD14 promoter polymorphism was more frequent (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.08–2.65, P=0.0224) than among C. pneumoniae-negative subjects matched for age and gender. The Arg753Gln TLR2 and Asp299Gly TLR4 polymorphisms were not related to chlamydial infection. Susceptibility for chronic chlamydial infection of PBMC in CAD patients appears associated with the CD14-159C>T promoter polymorphism encoding for enhanced CD14 expression.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SFB 367/B11 and SPP1130). We gratefully thank T Luedemann, A Hellberg and A. Gravenhorst (University of Luebeck) for technical assistance and A Kleensang (Institute of Medical Biometry and Statistics, University of Luebeck) for his support in data analysis.

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Correspondence to M Maass.

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Rupp, J., Goepel, W., Kramme, E. et al. CD14 promoter polymorphism −159C>T is associated with susceptibility to chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in peripheral blood monocytes. Genes Immun 5, 435–438 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gene.6364112

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.gene.6364112

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