Seroprevalence of Antibodies to Microorganisms Known To Cause Arterial and Myocardial Damage in Patients with or without Coronary Stenosis

Abstract

Infections are assumed to play a role in coronary artery disease (CAD) and cardiomyopathies. It is unknown whether the seroprevalence of antibodies to these microorganisms is higher in patients with than without CAD. The seroprevalence of antibodies to Bartonella henselae, Borrelia burgdorferi, Chlamydia pneumoniae, Coxiella burnetii, Helicobacter pylori, human granulocytic Ehrlichia, Leptospira, Rickettsia conorii, and Treponema pallidum was assessed prospectively in patients with exertional dyspnea or anginal chest pain who underwent coronary angiography because of suspected CAD. Patients with normal angiograms (NA) were those in whom no more than 50% stenosis of any coronary artery was found. Patients with CAD were patients who underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. There were 50 patients with CAD (9 female) and 62 with NA (25 female), with a mean age of 62 years. All patients had antibodies to at least one microorganism: to B. henselae, 8% of CAD patients and 5% of NA patients; to B. burgdorferi IgG, 14% CAD and 6% NA; to B. burgdorferi IgM, 6% CAD and 3% NA; to C. pneumoniae lipopolysaccharide (LPS) IgA, 76% CAD and 77% NA; to C. pneumoniae LPS IgG, 80% CAD and 90% NA; to C. burnetii, 0% CAD and 5% NA; to H. pylori, 92% CAD and 68% NA; to human granulocytic Ehrlichia, 8% CAD and 3% NA; to Leptospira IgG, 4% CAD and 2% NA; to R. conorii, 10% in both groups; and to T. pallidum, 2% CAD and 0% NA. The seroprevalence of antibodies to microorganisms known to induce arterial and myocardial damage does not differ between patients with CAD and NA.

Canine bartonellosis: serological and molecular prevalence in Brazil and evidence of co-infection withBartonella henselaeandBartonella vinsoniisubsp.berkhoffii

“…Moreover, 6 of 8 (75%) Bartonella seroreactive or PCR positive dogs had evidence of cardiac disease. Myocardial injury has been reported in infective endocarditis in dogs [11,32] and in human bartonellosis [25,47]. Surprisingly, there was not echocardiographic evidence of endocarditis in any dog in this study.…”

Association between Helicobacter. pylori and coronary artery disease

“…While these results are similar to some previously published studies [5,8,[16][17][18][19][20], it is not concordant with others [9,[21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]. It is worth repeating that this discrepancy seems to have arisen from the previously various methods of evaluating H.pylori infection and atherosclerosis.…”

Role of Infectious and Immune Factors in Coronary and Cerebrovascular Arteriosclerosis

“…11:106, 2001), whereas others did not (16,26,29,47,77). Further studies found an association, adequately explained by the much stronger association of H. pylori infection with age, male gender, and social class, which are linked with coronary heart disease (68,87,95). In a study of socioeconomically homogeneous men, controlled for age and smoking, limited evidence of association between H. pylori exposure and risk for future myocardial infarction was found (82).…”

“…Dis. 11:106), whereas others did not (16,19,39,41,42,61,63,83,95,100). The main explanations for these controversial findings are that the studies were done in different populations, used different criteria for controls, were adjusted for potential confounders to different degrees, and were, therefore, prone to different biases.…”