CHLAMYDIA PNEUMONIAE ANTIGENS OF BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

肺炎衣原体是急性呼吸道疾病的病因 人类。 此外，肺炎衣原体与慢性 呼吸系统疾病和一些免疫病理学疾病。 的 肺炎衣原体感染引发这些的机制 免疫病理性疾病在很大程度上是未知的。 临床谱 肺炎衣原体感染已扩展到动脉粥样硬化和 相关临床表现，如冠心病、 美国头号杀手 通过多种方法，证据表明 在整个动脉树的粥样斑块中都发现了这种生物体。 如果 该生物体被证明在动脉粥样硬化形成中发挥作用，将会有 迫切需要确定候选疫苗并快速开发 诊断方法。 这些措施应得到以下说明的帮助： 这些因素有助于肺炎衣原体的发病机制。 有一个 关于肺炎衣原体毒力因子的信息很少 以及预防感染的潜在目标。该提案将 通过分子、功能和抗原分析来确定 以下假定的毒力因子的作用是：1) 识别和 表征肺炎衣原体特异性识别的抗原 单克隆抗体，因为该抗体识别表面抗原， 具有传染性中和活性，并与 肺炎衣原体； 2) 鉴定引起的肺炎衣原体抗原 肺炎衣原体特异性中和抗体：98-kDa 和 42-kDa 含有已识别的肺炎衣原体特异性反应的抗原 在人类感染期间，也存在于循环免疫中 冠状动脉疾病患者的复合物； 3）表征 一种新型衣原体 70-kDa 白蛋白样蛋白质，其中含有 中和表位。 抗原拟态的假设是 通过筛选从过去的研究中收集的血清来解决 与衣原体感染相关的免疫病理疾病。 的 这些研究的最终目标是阐明肺炎衣原体 有助于发病机制和免疫病理学的抗原 指导未来制定预防措施的研究， 干预、诊断。

Chlamydia pneumoniae is an etiology of acute respiratory diseases in humans. In addition, C.pneumoniae has been associated with chronic respiratory diseases and some diseases of immunopathology. The mechanisms by which C.pneumoniae infections trigger these immunopathologic diseases are largely unknown. The clinical spectrum of C.pneumoniae infection has been extended to atherosclerosis and related clinical manifestations such as coronary heart disease, the number one killer in the U.S. By multiple methods, evidence of the organism has been found in atheromas throughout the arterial tree. If the organism is shown to play a role in atherogenesis, there will be an urgent need to identify vaccine candidates and to develop rapid diagnostic methods. These measures should be aided by elucidation of those factors contributing to C.pneumoniae pathogenesis. There is a paucity of information available on virulence factors of C.pneumoniae and potential targets for prevention of infection. The proposal will seek through molecular, functional, and antigenic analyses to determine the role of following putative virulence factors by: 1) identifying and characterizing the antigens recognized by the C.pneumoniae specific monoclonal antibody because this antibody recognizes surface antigens, has infectivity neutralizing activity, and reacts specifically with C.pneumoniae; 2) identifying the C.pneumoniae antigen which elicits C.pneumoniae specific neutralizing antibodies: a 98-kDa and 42-kDa antigens containing C.pneumoniae specific reactivities recognized during human infection which are also found in circulating immune complexes in persons with coronary artery disease; 3) characterizing a novel genus chlamydial 70-kDa albumin like protein that contains neutralizing epitopes. The hypothesis of antigen mimicry will be addressed by screening sera collected from past studies on immunopathologic diseases associated with chlamydial infection. The ultimate goals of these studies are to elucidating C.pneumoniae antigens contributing to pathogenesis and immunonopathologies that will direct future studies of developing measures for prevention, intervention, and diagnosis.