Alviar CL, Echeverri JG, Jaramillo NI, Figueroa CJ, Cordova JP, Korniyenko A, Suh J, Paniz-Mondolfi A. Infectious atherosclerosis: is the hypothesis still alive? A clinically based approach to the dilemma.
Med Hypotheses 2011;
76:517-21. [PMID:
21216537 DOI:
10.1016/j.mehy.2010.12.006]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2010] [Revised: 11/22/2010] [Accepted: 12/08/2010] [Indexed: 01/12/2023]
Abstract
Among the multiple factors involved in the pathophysiology of heart disease, infections have been proposed to play a role in atherosclerosis with most of the available evidence implicating Chlamydia pneumonia, influenza virus and Mycoplasma pneumoniae. Based on a model case presentation, we speculate that in the absence of traditional risk factors and in the context of an ongoing respiratory infection caused by a pro-inflammatory pathogen (M. pneumoniae) along with a past positive serologic history for potentially proven atherogenic microorganism (C. pneumoniae) and infection may elicit potentially pathogenic events on vascular wall cells and leukocytes of atheromatous lesions, supporting the hypothesis that such infections may potentiate atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (CVD).
Collapse