CHLAMYDIA PNEUMONIAE ANTIGENS OF BIOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE

肺炎衣原体是我国急性呼吸道疾病的病原学之一。 人类。此外，肺炎衣原体与慢性肺炎有关 呼吸系统疾病和免疫病理学的一些疾病。这个 肺炎衣原体感染引发这些疾病的机制 免疫病理疾病在很大程度上是未知的。临床谱系 肺炎衣原体感染已扩展到动脉粥样硬化和 相关的临床表现，如冠心病， 美国头号杀手通过多种方法，证据表明 在动脉树各处的动脉粥样硬化中发现了有机体。如果 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。这些措施应该得到澄清以下内容的帮助 这些因素与肺炎衣原体的致病机制有关。有一个 关于肺炎衣原体毒力因子的现有信息匮乏 以及预防感染的潜在目标。这项提议将 通过分子、功能和抗原性分析来确定 下列假定的毒力因子的作用：1)鉴定和 肺炎衣原体特异性识别抗原的特征 单抗，因为这种抗体识别表面抗原， 具有传染性中和活性，并与 肺炎衣原体；2)鉴定肺炎衣原体抗原 肺炎衣原体特异性中和抗体：98-kDa和42-kDa 识别的含有肺炎衣原体特异性反应性的抗原 在人类感染期间，循环免疫中也发现了这种物质 冠状动脉疾病患者的复合体；3)特征 一种新的衣原体70 kDa白蛋白样蛋白 中和表位。关于抗原模仿的假说将是 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。这个 这些研究的最终目的是阐明肺炎衣原体 与致病机制和免疫病理有关的抗原 指导未来制定预防措施的研究， 干预和诊断。

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.