Localizzazione e valutazione dell’espressione di Chlamydophila pneumoniae mediante RT-PCR in situ

Chlamydophila pneumoniae, an obligate intracellular gram negative bacterium, is involved in a wide spectrum of symptomatic respiratory tract diseases. However more recently it has been reported to be a pathogenic agent in the mechanism leading to atherosclerosis. In the present study the presence of Chlamydophila pneumoniae was assessed, using nested PCR and in situ PCR, while the viability of the microorganism was investigated using RT in situ PCR.The results obtained demonstrated that Chlamydophila pneumoniae was present and alive in the tissues examined.The global concordance of results in the three techniques used was 100%. RT in situ PCR can be considered a precious tool to detect bacterial mRNA in formalin fixed paraffin embedded samples provided an optimal standardization of the key variables is achieved.