CD14 promoter polymorphism -159C>T is associated with susceptibility to chronic Chlamydia pneumoniae infection in peripheral blood monocytes

Chlamydia pneumoniae uses peripheral blood monocytes (PBMC) for systemic dissemination and has been linked to atherogenesis by inflammation mediated via TLR2/4 and CD14. We found 12.8% of 610 coronary artery disease (CAD) patients of Central European background to be chronically infected with C. pneumoniae based on the repeated detection of chlamydial DNA in PBMC. Among those the -159C>T CD14 promoter polymorphism was more frequent (OR 1.7, 95% CI 1.08-2.65, P=0.0224) than among C. pneumoniae-negative subjects matched for age and gender. The Arg753Gln TLR2 and Asp299Gly TLR4 polymorphisms were not related to chlamydial infection. Susceptibility for chronic chlamydial infection of PBMC in CAD patients appears associated with the CD14-159C>T promoter polymorphism encoding for enhanced CD14 expression.