PURPOSE: Chlamydia pneumonia infection causes chronic recurrent infection, and is related to a broad spectrum of respiratory disease, and the specific antibody titer increases with age. As the interest in correlation between Chlamydia pneumonia infection and asthma has been recently increased, significant correlation with nonatopic asthma in adults has been proved, and in children the study results by using molecular biological techniques such as PCR and culture of patient's serum or nasal aspirate have been reported. We investigated the association between Chlamydia pneumonia infection and asthma with serum Chlamydia pneumonia specific antibody by ELISA of asthma patients who visited the hospital. METHODS: We collected the sera from patient group who visited the pediatric department of Yonsei University Medical Center to be diagnosed as asthma and from control group who had no evidence of asthma, respiratory or infectious disease. Centrifused sera were kept in -20 degrees C refregerator. To detect the serum Chlamydia pneumonia specific IgG and IgA of patient and control groups, we used ELEGANCE Chlamydia pneumonia IgG ELISA and ELEGANCE Chlamydia pneumonia IgA ELISA (Bioclone, Varrickville, Australia) kits. RESULTS: Serum Chlamydia pneumonia specific IgG and IgA ELISA were performed on patient group (55 males, 45 females) and control group (28 males, 29 females). The mean ages of patient and control groups were 6.8+/-2.8 and 6.3+/-3.4 years each and there was no significant difference. Positive rate to IgG in patient and control groups was 23.0% and 17.5% each (P=0.34). Positive rate to IgA in patient and control groups was 24.0% and 14.0% each (P=0.22). Positive rate to IgG and IgA in patient and control groups was 21.0% and 8.8% each (P=0.047). CONCLUSION: There was significant correlation between Chlamydia pneumonia infection and childhood asthma by the result of serum Chlamydia pneumonia specific IgG and IgA ELISA of patient and control groups.
Academic Medical Centers ; Adult ; Asthma* ; Child ; Chlamydia* ; Communicable Diseases ; Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay ; Humans ; Immunoglobulin A ; Immunoglobulin G ; Male ; Pneumonia* ; Polymerase Chain Reaction

BACKGROUND: Angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma (AITL) is a complex lymphoproliferative disorder and often mimics a viral infection with frequent skin involvement. Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and human herpes virus (HHV)-6 are reported to be associated with AITL, but there are conflicting results. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated the association of EBV and HHV-6 with AITL. METHODS: We reviewed the clinical, histological and immunophenotypical features of 19 cases of AITL. Among them, 11 lymph node biopsies of AITL were examined for HHV-6, -7, and -8 by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using virus-specific primers. In situ hybridization of EBV early region RNA (EBER) was performed and T cell receptor (TCR) gene rearrangement was also investigated in some cases. RESULTS: Among these 19 cases, maculopapular, plaque or nodular skin lesions accompanied AITL in 12 cases. Clonal TCR gene rearrangement was seen in 8/9 cases tested. EBER in situ hybridization was positive in 8 cases (57.1%). Among 7 cases with skin biopsies, five cases were consistent with cutaneous involvement of AITL, 1 case was a drug eruption, and the other case was Kaposi's sarcoma. Except a HHV-8 (+) case who also had Kaposi's sarcoma, all of these cases were negative for HHV-6, -7 and -8. CONCLUSION: Skin manifestation seems to be a cardinal component of AITL, be it in the context of presentation, progression or recurrent disease. Recognition of clinicopathological features of skin lesions in AITL as diagnostic clues should be stressed among dermatologists. The lack of HHV-6, -7 and -8 in lymph node biopsy of AITL argues against a pathogenic role for HHVs in AITL.
Biopsy ; Drug Eruptions ; Gene Rearrangement ; Genes, T-Cell Receptor ; Herpesvirus 4, Human ; Herpesvirus 6, Human ; Herpesvirus 8, Human ; Humans ; In Situ Hybridization ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphoma, T-Cell ; Lymphoproliferative Disorders ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Receptors, Antigen, T-Cell ; RNA ; Sarcoma, Kaposi ; Skin ; Skin Manifestations ; Viruses