This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Ring, R. H.
Right arrow Articles by Lyons, J. M.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Ring, R. H.
Right arrow Articles by Lyons, J. M.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2000, p. 2591-2594, Vol. 38, No. 7
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Failure To Detect Chlamydia pneumoniae in the Late-Onset Alzheimer's Brain

Robert H. Ring1,* and Joseph M. Lyons2

Division of Neurosciences, Beckman Research Institute at the City of Hope,1 and Department of Infectious Diseases, City of Hope National Medical Center,2 Duarte, California 91010

Received 31 January 2000/Returned for modification 22 March 2000/Accepted 25 April 2000

Epidemiological studies have yet to identify a single cause for the most common late-onset form of Alzheimer's disease. The common respiratory pathogen Chlamydia pneumoniae recently has been implicated as a risk factor for this form of Alzheimer's disease. Were this true, there would be a dramatic shift in current paradigms of Alzheimer's disease research and treatment. In the absence of published confirmation, we obtained postmortem brain tissue from late-onset Alzheimer's disease patients (n = 15) and representative controls (n = 5) and extracted DNA from up to six separate brain regions in each instance, including those areas particularly relevant to Alzheimer's disease neuropathology. Each sample of DNA (n = 101) was assayed five times or more for the presence of C. pneumoniae DNA using a nested-PCR protocol targeting a species-specific gene sequence coding for the major outer membrane protein of this organism. We were unable unequivocally to detect C. pneumoniae in any of the 101 samples tested by PCR and failed to culture the organism from tissue samples. We conclude that C. pneumoniae is neither strongly nor uniquely associated with the neuropathology seen in late-onset Alzheimer's disease.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Division of Neurosciences, Beckman Research Institute at the City of Hope, 1450 East Duarte Rd., Duarte, CA 91010. Phone: (626) 359-8111, ext. 3622. Fax: (626) 301-8948. E-mail: rring{at}coh.org.

Journal of Clinical Microbiology, July 2000, p. 2591-2594, Vol. 38, No. 7
0095-1137/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Mori, I., Yokochi, T., Koide, N., Sugiyama, T., Yoshida, T., Kimura, Y., Naiki, H., Matsubara, R., Takeuchi, T., Nishiyama, Y. (2004). PCR Search for the Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 Genome in Brain Sections of Patients with Familial Alzheimer's Disease. J. Clin. Microbiol. 42: 936-937 [Full Text]  
  • Taylor, G. S., Vipond, I. B., Paul, I. D., Matthews, S., Wilcock, G. K., Caul, E. O. (2002). Failure to correlate C. pneumoniae with late onset Alzheimer's disease. Neurology 59: 142-143 [Full Text]  
  • Smieja, M., Mahony, J. B., Goldsmith, C. H., Chong, S., Petrich, A., Chernesky, M. (2001). Replicate PCR Testing and Probit Analysis for Detection and Quantitation of Chlamydia pneumoniae in Clinical Specimens. J. Clin. Microbiol. 39: 1796-1801 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Hammerschlag, M. R., Ke, Z., Lu, F., Roblin, P., Boman, J., Kalman, B. (2000). Is Chlamydia pneumoniae Present in Brain Lesions of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis?. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38: 4274-4276 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»