Cervical epithelial cells from Chlamydia trachomatis-infected sites coexpress higher levels of chlamydial heat shock proteins 60 and 10 in infertile women than in fertile women.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The objective of the present study was to examine the possible relationship between the chlamydial heat shock proteins (cHSP) 60 and 10 expression and the damaging sequelae of a Chlamydia trachomatis infection, such as infertility.

METHODS: Seven fertile and 7 infertile female patients infected with C. trachomatis attending the gynecology outpatient department of Safdarjung hospital (New Delhi, India) were enrolled. The relative transcript levels and intracellular expression of cHSP60 and cHSP10 in cervical cells were assessed using real-time RT-PCR and flow cytometry, respectively.

RESULTS: Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis showed that transcript levels of both cHSP60 (p = 0.007) and cHSP10 (p = 0.0006) were higher in infertile women than in fertile women. Flow cytometric analysis showed significantly higher intracellular levels of cHSP60 (p = 0.0006) and cHSP10 (p = 0.0041) in fertile women infected with Chlamydia than in infertile women. However, the percentage of double-positive cells (both cHSP60- and cHSP10-expressing cells) were higher (p = 0.0006) in infertile women than in fertile women.

CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that cHSP60 and cHSP10 have a different pattern of expression in infertile women compared to fertile women reflecting a probable difference in the metabolic state of Chlamydia with the presence of an abnormal cryptic form of C. trachomatis in infertile women.