Objectives: Ocular adnexal non-Hodgkin lymphoma (OANHL), constitute a heterogeneous group of neoplasms that represent less than 1% of all NHLs that have been associated to a high prevalence of Chlamydia psittaci infection in tumor tissues and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) without evidence of other Chlamydia Spp or other microrganisms. Methods: We carried out combined cell cultures and PCR methods to investigate the presence of Chlamydia Spp. in tumor tissue and PBMC specimens collected from a patient with OANHL. The patient was a 58-years-old woman suffering from chronic B hepatitis, who was referred to the Section of Ophthalmology of University of Ferrara because of right eye lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma of conjunctiva (kappa light chain monotypia of plasmacytoid lymphocytes and plasma cells) with typical orange- or salmon-pink masses in the fornice, diagnosed in September 2007. In 2001, the patient had developed an analogous tumor in the left eye treated with radiotherapy. Common routine microbiological and serological tests were all negative for recent infections. Quantification of hepatitis C viral load showed highly detectable HCV RNA. Because of the possible association between chlamydial infections and malignant lymphomas, the patient was referred to the Section of Infectious Diseases of our University to investigate Chlamydiae and other pathogens. DNA extraction from PBMC and lymphoma tissue samples was carried out following a standard phenol/chloroform extraction technique after proteinase K digestion. PCR with primer sets amplifying Chlamydiae gene 16s RNA and MOMP was assayed on DNA from fresh specimens, supernatant and cells culture. Because of low availability of tissue for culture experiments, we only inoculated PBMC on Hep-2 cells in duplicate wells. Results: A PCR positive product (527 bp) corresponding to C. trachomatis MOMP was found in cultured PBMC specimens only. After sequencing, this fragment did show a strict homology with C. trachomatis (BLAST). No C. psittaci nor C. pneumoniae DNA sequences were detected. The patient was treated 4 weeks with doxycycline (100 mg, twice a day, for 3 weeks) and chlamydial DNA, assessed in the patients’ lymphoma tissue and PBMCs 1 month after the conclusion of antibiotic treatment, did result negative. Conclusions: This is the first study which demonstrates the presence of C. trachomatis DNA in PBMCs of a patient with OAL. Like other chlamydiae, this pathogen has a tendency to cause persistent infections and chronic stimulation which may favor development of OAL. The combination of culture with PCR has shown to improve the sensitivity of PCR thus suggesting its potential use to detect C. trachomatis.

MOLECULAR EVIDENCE OF CHLAMYDIA TRACHOMATIS IN A FEMALE PATIENT WITH OCULAR LYMPHOMA AND CHRONIC HEPATITIS B.

CONTINI, Carlo;SERACENI, Silva;LANZA, Francesco;SEBASTIANI, Adolfo;PERRI, Paolo
2008

Abstract

Objectives: Ocular adnexal non-Hodgkin lymphoma (OANHL), constitute a heterogeneous group of neoplasms that represent less than 1% of all NHLs that have been associated to a high prevalence of Chlamydia psittaci infection in tumor tissues and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) without evidence of other Chlamydia Spp or other microrganisms. Methods: We carried out combined cell cultures and PCR methods to investigate the presence of Chlamydia Spp. in tumor tissue and PBMC specimens collected from a patient with OANHL. The patient was a 58-years-old woman suffering from chronic B hepatitis, who was referred to the Section of Ophthalmology of University of Ferrara because of right eye lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma of conjunctiva (kappa light chain monotypia of plasmacytoid lymphocytes and plasma cells) with typical orange- or salmon-pink masses in the fornice, diagnosed in September 2007. In 2001, the patient had developed an analogous tumor in the left eye treated with radiotherapy. Common routine microbiological and serological tests were all negative for recent infections. Quantification of hepatitis C viral load showed highly detectable HCV RNA. Because of the possible association between chlamydial infections and malignant lymphomas, the patient was referred to the Section of Infectious Diseases of our University to investigate Chlamydiae and other pathogens. DNA extraction from PBMC and lymphoma tissue samples was carried out following a standard phenol/chloroform extraction technique after proteinase K digestion. PCR with primer sets amplifying Chlamydiae gene 16s RNA and MOMP was assayed on DNA from fresh specimens, supernatant and cells culture. Because of low availability of tissue for culture experiments, we only inoculated PBMC on Hep-2 cells in duplicate wells. Results: A PCR positive product (527 bp) corresponding to C. trachomatis MOMP was found in cultured PBMC specimens only. After sequencing, this fragment did show a strict homology with C. trachomatis (BLAST). No C. psittaci nor C. pneumoniae DNA sequences were detected. The patient was treated 4 weeks with doxycycline (100 mg, twice a day, for 3 weeks) and chlamydial DNA, assessed in the patients’ lymphoma tissue and PBMCs 1 month after the conclusion of antibiotic treatment, did result negative. Conclusions: This is the first study which demonstrates the presence of C. trachomatis DNA in PBMCs of a patient with OAL. Like other chlamydiae, this pathogen has a tendency to cause persistent infections and chronic stimulation which may favor development of OAL. The combination of culture with PCR has shown to improve the sensitivity of PCR thus suggesting its potential use to detect C. trachomatis.
2008
ch. trachomatis; lymphoma
File in questo prodotto:
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11392/525054
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? ND
social impact