You are here

Article Text

Article menu

Download PDFPDF

Co-morbidities
Antibodies to Chlamydia trachomatis and reproductive health issues in women with SLE: a case–control study
  1. Alba Santos1,
  2. Gilbert Greub2,
  3. Sébastien Aeby2,
  4. Dorothea Wunder3,
  5. Giuseppe Pantaleo1 and
  6. Camillo Ribi1
  1. 1 Department of Immunology and Allergy, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
  2. 2 Institute of Microbiology, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
  3. 3 Reproductive Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland
  1. Correspondence to Dr Alba Santos; alba.santos{at}chuv.ch

Abstract

Background SLE is an autoimmune condition affecting predominantly women. Little is known regarding Chlamydia trachomatis infection in women with SLE, which may drive autoimmunity and contribute to obstetrical and vascular complications.

Methods This single-centre, case–control study set primary endpoint in the comparative seropositivity rate to C. trachomatis major outer membrane protein (MOMP) and chlamydial heat-shock protein-60 (cHSP60) in age-matched subjects. The secondary endpoints were obstetrical outcomes, cardiovascular events and results from screening procedures for cervical cancer.

Results Eighty-four women with SLE and 50 age-matched controls were included. Seropositivity to C. trachomatis did not differ significantly between groups (10% of cases positive for anti-MOMP vs 12% of controls; 43% of cases positive for anti-cHSP60 vs 32% of controls). Women with SLE were more often of non-Caucasian ethnicity and had lower educational level. They relied less frequently on oral contraception and resorted more frequently to elective pregnancy termination. Pre-eclampsia and ectopic pregnancy occurred only in SLE. Women with SLE also experienced more cardiovascular events. In SLE, antibodies to cHSP60 were associated with a history of pericarditis and abnormal screening tests for cervical cancer. Antibody titres to C. trachomatis were not associated with disease activity or SLE treatment, nor were there associations with other gynaecological, obstetrical or vascular outcomes.

Conclusion Prevalence of antibodies to C. trachomatis was not increased in women with SLE. No significant association was found between these antibodies and obstetrical or cardiovascular complications.

  • systemic lupus erythematosuschlamydia trachomatis
  • i>, heat-shock protein 60, reproductive health, cardiovascular events

This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0

https://doi.org/10.1136/lupus-2018-000293

Statistics from Altmetric.com

    Request Permissions

    If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

    View Full Text

    Footnotes

    • Contributors AS: conception of the work; acquisition, analysis and interpretation of data for the work; drafting the work; final approval of the version to be published; agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. GG: contribution to the conception of the work; interpretation of data for the work; revising the work critically; final approval of the version to be published; agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. SA: acquisition of data; revising the work critically; final approval of the version to be published; agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work; DW: contribution to the conception of the work; interpretation of data for the work; revising the work critically; final approval of the version to be published; agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. GP: interpretation of data for the work; revising the work critically; final approval of the version to be published; agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work. CR: conception of the work; analysis and interpretation of data for the work; drafting the work; final approval of the version to be published; agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

    • Funding Association of the Swiss SLE Cohort Study (ASSCS) unrestricted grant from USB to Carlo Chizzolini, Geneva University Hospital and Medical School.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Patient consent Obtained.

    • Ethics approval The study was approved by the local ethics committee (Commission cantonale d'éthique de la recherche sur l'être humain, VD, CH) on 15 December 2014 (protocol n° 470/14).

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement No additional data are available.