ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ANTIBODY TO THE CHLAMYDIAL HEAT-SHOCK PROTEIN ANDTUBAL INFERTILITY

To determine the prevalence of antibody to Chlamydia heat-shock protei n 60 (C-hsp60) in women with tubal infertility, an ELISA using purifie d recombinant C-hsp60 was developed. Antibody to C. trachomatis was pr esent in 32 (72.7%) of 44 women with tubal infertility compared with 9 (32.1%) of 28 with other causes of infertility and 55 (28.9%) of 190 pregnant women (P <.001). Among the seropositive women, antibody to C- hsp60 was present in 26 (81.3%) of 32 women with tubal infertility com pared with 0 of 9 with other causes of infertility and 9 (16.4%) of 55 pregnant women (P < .001). The C-hsp60 ELISA detected Chlamydia-assoc iated tubal infertility in infertile women with a sensitivity of 81.3% and a specificity of 97.5%. There is a strong association between ant ibody response to the C-hsp60 and the development of Chlamydia-associa ted tubal infertility. Thus, a C-hsp60 ELISA may be useful as a predic tor for poor fertility outcome.