Chlamydia is the most commonly reported sexually transmitted infection in the US, with an estimated 4 million new cases in 2018 alone. In addition to humans, Chlamydia infects other animals including mice, and mice have become a popular model for the study of Chlamydia infection. Female sex hormones (FSH) estrogen (E2) and progesterone (P4) rise and fall in a cyclic fashion in both humans and mice, and it is well established that these hormones affect the establishment and progression of genital chlamydial infection. Prior studies that used a co-culture model of human endometrial epithelial cells (IK cells) grown on extracellular matrix-coated inserts over human stromal cells (SHT cells) showed that E2 treatment enhanced initial chlamydial infection and production of progeny Chlamydia compared to hormone free (HF), P4 or combination E2’E2/P4 treatment. This led to the hypothesis that the treatment of ovariectomized (OVX) mice with E2 would enhance chlamydial infection compared to mice treated with no hormone, P4, or a combination of E2 and P4. We ordered OVX mice from Jackson Laboratories and surgically implanted silastic capsules that contained E2, P4, E2/P4, or no hormone diluted in sesame oil. A gas chromatography method was developed to test E2 and P4 concentration in mouse serum, ensuring that hormone levels were physiologically relevant. 8 days after the implantation of the capsules, mice were vaginally-inoculated with C. muridarum¸ a chlamydial species that mimics human chlamydial infection in mice. Every 3 days post infection (pi), for 21 days, we vaginally swabbed mice to determine how much C. muridarum each mouse shed and created a graphical representation of chlamydial shedding. A subset of mice were sacrificed on day 10pi so that presence and identity of immune cells could be analyzed by flow cytometry. Surprisingly, E2 alone and E2/P4 treatment completely protected mice from chlamydial infection. HF-treated mice peaked in chlamydial shedding on day 3pi, and P4-treated mice peaked on day 9pi. Flow cytometry data showed that E2-treated mice had a significantly reduced T cell presence in the genital tract. Thus far, our data suggest that FSH affect chlamydial infection in mice differently than in humans. This observation could have important implications for a field that is heavily reliant on murine studies.

archives@tulane.edu / Background: Chlamydia trachomatis (Ct) is the most common bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the United States. The rate among Black Americans is disproportionately higher than that of White Americans. Ct acquisition is influenced by factors at different levels of the social-ecological model. Methods: Data was collected through Check It, a community venue-based screening study for Black men aged 15-24 who have sex with women, in New Orleans, Louisiana between 05/17/2017-03/16/2020. Latent class analysis identified classes (patterns) of behaviors and relationship traits. Regression mixture modeling assessed associations between covariates and distal outcomes within classes. Path analysis examined mediation of neighborhood factors on Ct by sexual behaviors. Results: At the individual level, five classes of risk behaviors—including substance use, condomless sex, and multiple recent partners—were identified among 1872 men; Ct prevalence ranged from 7.3%-13.6%. Age and education beyond high school were significant risk factors for two classes and health insurance was significantly protective against Ct for two classes. Among 2906 partners reported, five relationship classes emerged with Ct prevalence ranging from 10.1%-18.3%. Community members provided diverse descriptions of the classes. Age, education, substance use, multiple partners, health insurance, and time in a detention facility were predictive of class membership. The effects of three neighborhood and institutional level factors (everyday discrimination, neighborhood safety, and time in a detention facility) on Ct prevalence were mediated by behaviors (substance use, multiple partners, and condomless sex). The three neighborhood and institutional factors were highly interrelated. Conclusion: This work describes the unique characteristics of this population and can be utilized in risk assessment and delivering sexual health services to young Black men who have sex with women. Understanding risk factors across levels of the social-ecological model supports the need for policy changes that address unequal environments and opportunities that increase the risk of Ct acquisition. / 1 / Megan Clare Craig-Kuhn

Chlamydia trachomatis is an important cause of immune-mediated damage to the reproductive tract of infected patients. Certain chlamydial antigens and host genetic factors have been identified as contributing to immunopathological events, but a comprehensive understanding of specific components involved in destructive vs. protective immune responses to chlamydial infections is far from clear. In this study, it is shown that C. trachomatis-infected patients generate antibodies against an iron-responsive chlamydial protein, YtgA. The identity of YtgA was confirmed by mass spectrometry following two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and Western blot analysis. This finding underscores a necessity to examine patient sera samples to identify chlamydial antigens that are likely encountered and important to the immune response during human infections.

The obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis requires iron in order to complete its developmental cycle. Addition of an iron-chelating drug, Desferal (deferoxamine mesylate), to infected cell culture causes Chlamydia to enter persistence. Here, we explore the ability of a stably-transfected cell line with inducible over-expression of the eukaryotic iron efflux protein ferroportin to starve C. trachomatis serovar E for iron. Ferroportin-induced iron removal is perhaps a more direct method of removing iron from the intracellular compartment versus exposure to an exogenous chemical chelator. Following induction, ferroportin-green fluorescent protein (Fpn-GFP) was detected in the plasma membrane, and cells expressing Fpn-GFP remained viable throughout the timescale required for Chlamydia to complete its developmental cycle. Following Fpn-GFP induction in infected cells, chlamydial infectivity remained unchanged, indicating chlamydiae were not in persistence. Ferritin levels indicate only a small decrease in cellular iron following Fpn-GFP expression relative to cultures exposed to Desferal. These data indicate that expression of Fpn-GFP in chlamydiae-infected cells is not capable of reducing iron below the threshold concentration needed to cause chlamydiae to enter persistence.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Chlamydia is the most frequently reported bacterial sexually transmitted infection in the world. Most urogenital chlamydia infections in men and women are asymptomatic, but these infections can lead to irreparable damage in the reproductive system and other tissues. Apart from the urogenital chlamydial infections, we know that chlamydia infects the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in humans and can colonize the GIT for extended intervals without eliciting pathology. We are interested in investigating tissue tropism determinants in Chlamydia spp. because these could be targeted to development live-attenuated vaccines. Recently, we generated mutagenized isolates of the mouse pathogen Chlamydia muridarum, a close relative of the human pathogen Chlamydia trachomatis which causes chlamydia. One mutant that we isolated is significantly attenuated in murine gastrointestinal tissues compared to wild type, but retains its pathogenicity in the murine urogenital tract. Using novel genetic techniques, whole-genome sequencing, and complementation using newly developed vector systems we identified a chromosomal factor, tc0600, that we believe mediates the altered tissue tropism phenotype of this mutant in mice. Notably, the Chlamydia trachomatis ortholog of tc0600 has been linked to chlamydial GIT tropism in humans.

Asthma is the most common chronic respiratory disease affecting young children and adults all over the world. An estimated 34.1 million Americans have reported asthma in their lifetime and the disease costs ~US $56 billion dollars to treat each year. Current treatment is based on a paradigm of asthma as a non-infectious atopic condition whose root cause is inflammation. Chronically administered anti-inflammatory medications, primarily inhaled corticosteroids (ICS), ameliorate asthma symptoms in many patients. However, up to 50% of asthmatics, characterized by neutrophil infiltration, IL-17 secretion and increased risk of fatality are refractory to ICS treatment. Chlamydia pneumoniae, a ubiquitous, obligate intracellular pathogen with an innate propensity to persist and cause chronic infections, along with Mycoplasma pneumoniae have been implicated in the development of chronic, refractory asthma. C. pneumoniae infections are common in infants and young children, often coinciding with the development of early onset asthma in the population. These facts lead the Webley lab to evaluate the carriage of Chlamydia in pediatric respiratory disease patients and the work confirmed that respiratory infections caused by Chlamydia is a significant risk factor in asthma development and live Chlamydia was isolated from the lungs of children with chronic asthma. However, the exact mechanism underlying chlamydial involvement in the disease remained unknown and we believed that a better understanding could shed important light on expanded treatment options and mechanisms of this infectious asthma phenotype. The work presented here provides new insight into how (1) early life chlamydial infection can lead to asthma initiation and exacerbation (2) respiratory chlamydial infection induces cellular and chemical immune responses that support asthmatic inflammation (3) other respiratory pathogens (eg. Mycoplasma) can drive similar immunological responses resulting in significant lung pathology.

Chlamydia is a sexually transmitted disease caused by Chlamydia trachomatis, commonly affecting sexually active college-aged adults. Presently, opportunistic testing, self-testing, and information campaigns are methods to screen vulnerable populations and raise awareness about chlamydia. Chlamydia remains underdiagnosed and undertested due to a lack of participation by individuals who may have been exposed to it. Wastewater-based epidemiology is a rising biomonitoring tool that detects the presence of disease- and drug-specific biomarkers in a community's wastewater. In this study, wastewater-based epidemiology was used to detect the presence of C. trachomatis on the University of Central Florida campus. Wastewater samples were collected from two locations on campus from January 2022 to December 2022. The samples were pasteurized and filtered. DNA was extracted from the filters and was subsequently quantified using qPCR. C. trachomatis was detected at both sites of the UCF campus, with peaks corresponding to periods of the academic semester at which students arrived on campus or had fewer academic responsibilities. It was concluded that wastewater-based epidemiology provided a low-cost and non-invasive tool to notify the public of potential chlamydia outbreaks and encourage testing. Exploration in wastewater-based epidemiology should continue in research of C. trachomatis detection.

Submitted by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-08-09T13:56:09Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Kelly Deyse Segati - 2012.pdf: 1381150 bytes, checksum: 6c27c539f7ddade59c13124dfc688935 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2016-08-09T13:57:32Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Kelly Deyse Segati - 2012.pdf: 1381150 bytes, checksum: 6c27c539f7ddade59c13124dfc688935 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-09T13:57:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Dissertação - Kelly Deyse Segati - 2012.pdf: 1381150 bytes, checksum: 6c27c539f7ddade59c13124dfc688935 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-18 / Infection with Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) may be associated with persistent carcinogenic HPV types and the development of cervical neoplasia. There are indications that detection of CT serum antibodies rather than DNA is a better measure of cumulative exposure to CT or of exposure occurring several years prior to the development of cervical disease. The objective of this study was to compare the positivity for CT by ELISA and PCR and to correlate with the severity of cervical neoplasia in women with abnormal cervical smear. Between February 2007 and March 2009, 136 women were referred to the colposcopy clinic at the Santa Casa de Misericordia in Goiânia-GO. HPV DNA was detected by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and genotyping was performed by reverse line-blot hybridization assay. CT seropositivity was tested by ELISA for the detection of IgG antibodies and the detection of CT was done by PCR to amplify a sequence in the cryptic plasmid generating a fragment of 512 base pairs. The total prevalence of HPV infection was 85.2%. Seropositivity for CT was 26%. Thirty-one women 26.7 were tested positive for CT antibodies and HPV-DNA. Of these 10.3% had diagnosis of cervical intraepithelial neoplasia grade 1 (CIN1) or cervicitis, while 16.3% had histological diagnosis of CIN2 worse diagnosis. When employed PCR test positivity was found to be 8.8%. Eleven women 9.48% were tested positive for CT and HPV DNA. Of these 5.1% had diagnosis of cervicitis or CIN1 and 4.3% had a diagnosis of CIN2 or worse diagnosis. The agreement between serology and PCR tests for CT was considered poor (kappa=0.10 IC 95% 0.69-7.9). Taking as reference the cases negatives for HPV and CT, a positivity for HPV and CT seropositivity was significantly associated with a diagnosis of CIN2 or worse diagnosis, for all HPV types (OR=11.9 IC=2.00-91.5 p=0.0009) and types 16 and 18 (OR=7.50 IC=0.91-76.28 p=0.02). Significant association was observed after adjustment for HPV. A Borderline significance was observed considering other HPV types (OR=7.50 IC=0.91-76.28 p=0.02). CT seropositivity was associated with CIN2 worse diagnosis in women infected by HPV, mainly when the types 16 and 18 were involved. This study did not show any association between CT infection detected by PCR and CIN2 or worse diagnosis. These data support the hypothesis that seropositivity for CT compared to PCR positivity in HPV positive women, especially for types 16 and 18, is a better measure of previous exposure, which reflects a higher probability of association with the severity of cervical neoplasia. / A infecção por Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) pode estar associada com a persistência dos tipos de Papilomavírus humano (HPV) oncogênicos e desenvolvimento da neoplasia cervical. Há indicações de que a detecção de CT por sorologia seja uma melhor medida de exposição cumulativa ou da exposição passada quando comparada a detecção pela reação da polimerase em cadeia (PCR). O objetivo deste estudo foi comparar a positividade para CT pelos métodos de ELISA e PCR e relacionar com a gravidade da neoplasia cervical em mulheres com anormalidades citológicas. Entre fevereiro de 2007 e março de 2009, 136 mulheres, foram encaminhadas à Clínica de Colposcopia na Santa Casa de Misericórdia em Goiânia-GO por exame citológico alterado. A detecção de DNA do HPV foi realizada por PCR utilizando os iniciadores PGMY09/PGMY11, e a genotipagem foi realizada por hibridização reversa em pontos. A positividade para CT foi avaliada por ELISA para detecção de anticorpos IgG e por PCR empregando iniciadores cujo alvo é uma região de plasmídeo críptico, gerando um fragmento de aproximadamente 512 pares de bases. A prevalência total da infecção por HPV foi 85,2%. A positividade para CT por sorologia foi de 25%. Trinta e uma amostras 26,7% foram positivas para HPV e CT. Destas 10,3% tinham diagnóstico de neoplasia intraepitelial cervical grau 1 (NIC1) ou cervicite, enquanto 16,3% tinham diagnóstico histológico de NIC 2 ou pior diagnóstico. Quando empregado o teste de PCR a positividade encontrada foi de 8,8%. Onze amostras 9,48% foram positivas para HPV e CT por PCR, sendo que 5,1% das pacientes apresentavam diagnóstico de NIC1 ou cervicite e 4,3% tinham diagnóstico de NIC 2 ou pior diagnóstico. A concordância entre os testes de sorologia e PCR para CT foi considerado ruim (kappa=0,10 IC 95% 069-7.9). Tomando como referência casos negativos para HPV/CT, a positividade para HPV/CT por sorologia foi significantemente associada com diagnóstico de NIC2 ou pior diagnóstico, para todos os tipos de HPV (OR=11.9 IC=2.00-91.5 p=0.0009) e para os tipos 16 e 18 (OR=16.25 IC=2.28-148.57 p=0.0005). Uma associação limítrofe foi observada considerando outros tipos de HPV (OR=7.50 IC=0.91-76.28 p=0.02). Houve associação estatisticamente significante após o ajustamento para infeção por HPV entre as infecções pelos tipos 16 e 18 e soropositividade para CT com a gravidade da neoplasia cervical. Quando empregado o teste de PCR, não houve associação entre a coinfecção HPV/CT e a gravidade da neoplasia cervical. Estes dados reforçam a hipótese de que a soropositividade para CT quando comparada a positividade por PCR em mulheres HPV positivas, especialmente para os tipos 16 e 18, é uma melhor medida de exposição anterior, o que reflete maior probabilidade de associação com a gravidade da neoplasia cervical.

Background: Unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections among young people are priority public health issues in the UK. Social marketing is the preferred Government approach to intervention despite limited evidence on efficacy. There is need to understand its applicability and effectiveness in addressing the specified sexual health issues. Methods: Three studies were carried out, of which the first was a systematic review of 12 studies assessing the effectiveness of social marketing in reducing unintended teenage pregnancies. The second and third were consumer research applications examining factors associated with Long Acting Reversible Contraceptive (LARC) use and Chlamydia screening respectively. The second study involved analysing five ONS Contraception survey datasets while the third involved analysing Havering PCT Chlamydia screening records and qualitative data from 28 participants. Data were analysed using Stata.10 and Framework statistical packages and maps drawn using MapInfo.10.5. Results: The systematic review showed that nine studies achieved significant effects on at least one of the specified outcomes (reduced pregnancy rates and related behaviour changes). The second study showed that the NICE guidelines published in 2005 successfully addressed the disparity in LARC uptake previously experienced by women aged below 20. The third study identified females and non-white participants as more likely to take Chlamydia tests. Motivating factors for testing included convenient access to kits and fear of infertility, while barriers included ignorance and fear of results. Conclusions: Social marketing appears to be effective in reducing unintended teenage pregnancies but evidence is limited to particular outcomes and context. Consumer research provides vital intelligence about target populations necessary for designing effective interventions and addressing inequalities. However to assess its influence on outcomes, studies that feature all social marketing components are required. Overall there is need for more studies that specifically utilize social marketing principles to enable more robust evaluations.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol inst., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.