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Chlamydia pneumoniae and Inflammatory Arthritis

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Chlamydia pneumoniae Infection and Disease

Part of the book series: Infectious Agents and Pathogenesis ((IAPA))

Summary

Chlamydia pneumoniae is a pathogen of much current interest in relation to several chronic and acute human diseases. Associations of this organism with some clinical entities, such as multiple sclerosis and late-onset (sporadic) Alzheimer’s disease, remain highly controversial, but a role for C. pneumoniae in the genesis of inflammatory arthritis has gained much credence over the last several years. While the published data briefly summarized in this chapter clearly support a role for C. pneumoniae in this disease, a good deal remains to be learned concerning the mechanisms by which disease generation is initiated and/or maintained by the bacterium. Forexample, studies of C. trachomatis and its pathogenic role in reactive arthritis convincingly show that this bacterium resides long-term in synovial tissue in the persistent, rather than the actively growing, state, and thatjoint pathogenesis by this organism must be understood in terms of host-pathogen interactions specific to that biologic state. Currently availabledataconcerning the biology of C.pneumoniae in the joint, while strongly suggestive of persistent infection, do not unequivocally demonstrate that this organism, like its sister-species, undergoes persistence during chronic infection of the synovium. Further, some data suggest that molecular genetic and other details of persistent infection and host-pathogen interaction differ somewhat between C. trachomatis and C. pneumoniae. Those potential differences must be defined carefully, since the lack of clear extraarticular features for the inflammatory arthritis apparently induced by the latter organism probably relate to those differences. Moreover, the role of the APOE ε4 gene product must be elucidated, since some observations indicate that it may be important, specifically in the C. pneumoniae associated pathogenesis process. Thus, even though it is likely that this unusual organism does indeed elicit synovial pathogenesis, much work remains to be done before its role in joint disease is fully understood.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, Michigan

    Judith A. Whittum-Hudson & Alan P. Hudson

  2. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and D. V. A. Medical Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

    H. Ralph Schumacher

Authors
  1. Judith A. Whittum-Hudson
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  2. H. Ralph Schumacher
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  3. Alan P. Hudson
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of South Florida College of Medicine, Tampa, Florida

    Herman Friedman

  2. Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    Yoshimasa Yamamoto

  3. University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy

    Mauro Bendinelli

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Whittum-Hudson, J.A., Schumacher, H.R., Hudson, A.P. (2005). Chlamydia pneumoniae and Inflammatory Arthritis. In: Friedman, H., Yamamoto, Y., Bendinelli, M. (eds) Chlamydia pneumoniae Infection and Disease. Infectious Agents and Pathogenesis. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48741-1_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/0-306-48741-1_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-0-306-48487-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-0-306-48741-5

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