CIBICI   14215
CENTRO DE INVESTIGACION EN BIOQUIMICA CLINICA E INMUNOLOGIA
Unidad Ejecutora - UE
congresos y reuniones científicas
Título:
Chlamydia trachomatis infection of male genital tract: evidence of autoreactive prostatitis
Autor/es:
MACKERN-OBERTI, JP, MOTRICH, RD, BRESER, ML , SANCHEZ L , MACCIONI M, RIVERO, VE
Lugar:
cHILE
Reunión:
Congreso; 9th Latin American Congress of Imunology (ALAI).; 2009
Institución organizadora:
alai
Resumen:
Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) has been associated to autoimmune disease such as Reiter´s syndrome and reactive arthritis, but there are no reports about CT infection and its relationship with autoimmune prostatitis. In the present work we develop an ascending model of male genital tract infection with CT and analyze the possible development of autoimmune reactivity to prostate antigens.  Male Wistar rats, were inoculated with CT in the urethra and sacrificed 15 or 80 days postinfection (dpi). PCR assays at 15 dpi showed the presence of CT in urethra (4/6), bladder (3/6), prostate (2/6) and seminal vesicles (2/6), but not in testis samples (0/8). At day 80 dpi the presence of CT was not observed in urethra, bladder or testis, but was present in a high proportion of prostate (5/8) and seminal vesicle (5/8) samples. CT infection produced more important histological alterations in the prostate than in others tissues at 80 dpi. Moreover, autoantibodies against prostate antigens and specific proliferative response were observed in the majority of CT infected animals (5/8). Our results suggest that CT shows a special tropism for the prostate gland and may act as a possible trigger factor in the development of autoimmune prostatitis in susceptible individuals