Correlation between antibody titer of Chlamydia pneumoniae and pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis

Objective To investigate the correlation between Chlamydia pneumoniae infection and multiple sclerosis (MS) and to explore the pathogenesis of the pathogen. Methods In this study,31 patients with relapsing MS (RPMS),28 patients with remitting MS (RMMS), 30 patients with other neurologic diseases (OND) and 30 healthy persons (HEA) were tested serologically for specific Chlamydia pneumoniae IgG and IgM antibodies with ELISA. CSF was tested for IgG and IgM in RPMS and OND,too. Results The Chlamydia pneumoniae IgG seropositivity in RPMS,RMMS,OND and HEA was 48.4%, 35.7%,30.0% and 23.3% respectively,and there was no significant difference (P0.05) in 4 groups. The Chlamydia pneumoniae IgM seropositivity of 4 groups was 12.9%, 14.3%, 20.0% and 10.0% respectively,and there was no significant difference (P0.05) in 4 groups too. Besides the serumal antibodies,the positive rate of Chlamydia pneumoniae IgG and IgM in RPMS and OND patients was 0, 6.7% and 0,0 respectively. The difference was not significant (P0.05). Conclusions Our study does not support a positive association between Chlamydia pneumoniae infection or reinfection and MS. Chlamydia pneumoniae may be a bystander pathogen.