CONTINUOUS ISOLATION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF CHLAMYDIA-PNEUMONIAE FROM A PATIENT WITH DIFFUSE PANBRONCHIOLITIS

We succeeded in isolating Chlamydia pneumoniae organisms continuously from a 70-year-old man who had received chemotherapeutic treatment wit h low dosages of erythromycin for five years to improve diffuse panbro nchiolitis (DPB), He had two episodes of acute exacerbation of DPB and a total of six strains of C. pneumoniae were isolated at different st ages during the past 13 months, The morphological properties and prote in profiles of the elementary bodies of all the C. pneumoniae isolates were similar to each other, Interestingly, his serological response a gainst C. pneumoniae in immunoblotting tests was differed between two episodes, The sera collected during the first episode reacted weakly t o the major outer membrane protein (MOMP), whereas those collected dur ing the second episode reacted strongly to the 60-kDa protein and weak ly to MOMP. These facts suggest that the two different episodes occurr ed as a result of different mechanisms, Additionally, in spite of the low antibody titer by micro-immunofluorescence test in the second epis ode as compared with that of the first episode, the immune response ag ainst 60-kDa immunodominant protein increased markedly in the second e pisode, and we suspect that the second episode was due to an allergic reaction caused by this 60-kDa protein, These findings suggest that re peated or prolonged exposure to C. pneumoniae may be associated with a cute exacerbations of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and that the patient should be noted as a possible source of C. pneumoniae infe ction.