Serological responses of patients with ectopic pregnancy to epitopes of the Chlamydia trachomatis 60 kDa heat shock protein

Abstract

Clinical and histopathological correlations of immunoreactivity to Chlamydia trachomatis and to epitopes of the C. trachomatis 60 kDa heat shock protein (hsp60) among women with ectopic pregnancy were evaluated in a case-control study. Serological responses to 13 synthetic peptides corresponding to major epitopes of the chlamydial hsp60 were determined in 67 women treated for ectopic pregnancy and 45 women with uncomplicated pregnancy in utero. Plasma cell salpingitis was detected in 29 (43.3%) of the ectopic patients. Its presence correlated with antibodies to two hsp60 epitopes, encompassing amino acids 260-271 and 411-422 (P = 0.02). Antibodies to these two epitopes, along with five other epitopes, also correlated with peritubal adhesion formation in ectopic pregnant patients (P < 0.01). Antibodies to epitopes 260-271 and 188-199 also correlated with a history of pelvic inflammatory disease (PID; P = 0.05). Patients with ectopic pregnancy were also more likely than their intrauterine pregnant controls to have present anti-chlamydial immunoglobulin G (P < 0.005). Women positive for both C. trachomatis and hsp60 epitope antibodies had an increased prevalence over controls of salpingitis, pelvic adhesions or history of PID (P < 0.05). In contrast, patients who were positive for only C. trachomatis antibodies or only hsp60 epitope antibodies did not differ from antibody-negative patients in each of these categories.

Association of anti-Chlamydia antibodies with ectopic pregnancy in Benin city, Nigeria: A case-control study

“…Thus, the prevalence of serum antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis was high among patients with ectopic pregnancy and significantly higher compared with women with an uncomplicated intrauterine pregnancy. This high rate is in keeping with data presented in local studies and compares favourably with various reports worldwide that patients with ectopic pregnancy are more likely to have immunoglobulin G (IgG) antibodies against Chlamydia trachomatis when compared with pregnant controls [9][10][11][12]23 . In addition, the results indicate that ectopic pregnant women who were seropositive for exposure to Chlamydia trachomatis had an increased prevalence of pelvic adhesions compared with ectopic patients who were negative for Chlamydia antibodies.…”

“…The results of this study therefore highlight the need for the continued search for the pathogenic agent most responsible for tubal disease and hence ectopic pregnancy especially in the light of emerging evidence of the increasing role of Mycoplasma genitalium. This hypothesis is supported by evidence suggesting that heat shock protein 60kDa antibodies might also be elicited by other micro-organisms 9 .…”

“…Observed increases in ectopic pregnancy have been attributed to several factors, including increase in the incidence of pelvic infections and improvement in the diagnostic techniques for ectopic pregnancy 4 . Its increasing incidence globally, has resulted in growing interest in its aetiology 8,9 . A number of studies have looked at the antibody responses induced by Chlamydia trachomatis infection and have generally found a good correlation between serum antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis and ectopic pregnancy [9][10][11][12] .…”

“…Its increasing incidence globally, has resulted in growing interest in its aetiology 8,9 . A number of studies have looked at the antibody responses induced by Chlamydia trachomatis infection and have generally found a good correlation between serum antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis and ectopic pregnancy [9][10][11][12] . In addition, ectopic pregnancy risk was observed to be greatest amongst a subset of women with multiple exposures to chlamydial infections 13 .…”

Heat Shock Protein 60 Specific T‐Cell Response in Chlamydial Infections

“…We should not exclude the possibility that the enhanced humoral response to chlamydial HSP60 is simply a consequence of the intense stimulation of immune mechanisms by continuous or recurrent infections. This assumption is supported by the fact that HSP60 antibodies are often found concurrently with elevated antibody levels to the whole Chlamydia elementary body (EB) antigen [22,23,29, 31±33].…”