Chlamydia Like Spherical Bodies (CLSB) as Pathogenetic Agents in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)

COPD is associated with airway obstruction and chronic inflammation. Previous observations detected CLSB and DNA sequences of the ompA gene of Chlamydophila psittaci in resection specimens of advanced pulmonary emphysema (BMC Infect Dis 2004; 4: 38). Therefore bacteriae had to be isolated and grown in cell culture according to the second Kochʼs postulate. Specimens of patients with COPD undergoing thoracic surgery because of lung volume reduction or lung cancer and controls (totally 40 cases) were taken and investigated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), cultured using BGM and A549 cell lines and tested by PCR. Histologically typical changes of COPD were seen and TEM could detect CLSB as seen before. But cell culture as well as RT-qPCR and nested-PCR on Chlamydophila psittaci were completely negative. Chlamydia infection could not be proven in COPD. Further investigations are necessary to evaluate and determinate CLSB as possible pathogenetic agents.