Posted on 01/05/2011 11:48:27 AM PST by decimon
Enterobacter hormaechei -- normally associated with pneumonia and sepsis -- found in excised atherosclerotic plaque tissue
Dr. Emil Kozarov and a team of researchers at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine have identified specific bacteria that may have a key role in vascular pathogenesis, specifically atherosclerosis, or what is commonly referred to as "hardening of the arteries" – the number one cause of death in the United States.
Fully understanding the role of infections in cardiovascular diseases has been challenging because researchers have previously been unable to isolate live bacteria from atherosclerotic tissue. Using tissue specimens from the Department of Surgery and the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University, Dr. Kozarov and his team, however, were able to isolate plaques from a 78-year-old male who had previously suffered a heart attack. Their findings are explained in the latest Journal of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis.
In the paper, researchers describe processing the tissue using cell cultures and genomic analysis to look for the presence of culturable bacteria. In addition, they looked at five pairs of diseased and healthy arterial tissue. The use of cell cultures aided in the isolation of the bacillus Enterobacter hormaechei from the patient's tissue. Implicated in bloodstream infections and other life-threatening conditions, the isolated bacteria were resistant to multiple antibiotics. Surprisingly, using quantitative methods, this microbe was further identified in very high numbers in diseased but not in healthy arterial tissues.
The data suggest that a chronic infection may underlie the process of atherosclerosis, an infection that can be initiated by the systemic dissemination of bacteria though different "gates" in the vascular wall – as in the case of a septic patient, through intestinal infection. The data support Dr. Kozarov's previous studies, where his team identified periodontal bacteria in carotid artery, thus pointing to tissue-destructing periodontal infections as one possible gate to the circulation.
Bacteria can gain access to the circulation through different avenues, and then penetrate the vascular walls where they can create secondary infections that have been shown to lead to atherosclerotic plaque formation, the researchers continued. "In order to test the idea that bacteria are involved in vascular pathogenesis, we must be able not only to detect bacterial DNA, but first of all to isolate the bacterial strains from the vascular wall from the patient," Dr. Kozarov said.
One specific avenue of infection the researchers studied involved bacteria getting access to the circulatory system via internalization in white blood cells (phagocytes) designed to ingest harmful foreign particles. The model that Dr. Kozarov's team was able to demonstrate showed an intermediate step where Enterobacter hormaechei is internalized by the phagocytic cells, but a step wherein bacteria are able to avoid immediate death in phagocytes. Once in circulation, Dr. Kozarov said, bacteria using this "Trojan horse" approach can persist in the organism for extended periods of time while traveling to and colonizing distant sites. This can lead to multitude of problems for the patients and for the clinicians: failure of antibiotic treatment, vascular tissue colonization and initiation of an inflammatory process, or atherosclerosis, which ultimately can lead to heart attack or stroke.
"Our findings warrant further studies of bacterial infections as a contributing factor to cardiovascular disease, and of the concept that 'bacterial persistence' in phagocytic cells likely contributes to systemic dissemination," said Dr. Kozarov, an associate professor of oral biology at the College of Dental Medicine. Dr. Jingyue Ju, co-author and director of the Columbia Center for Genome Technology & Bio-molecular Engineering, also contributed to this research, which was supported in part by a grant from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health and by the Columbia University Section of Oral and Diagnostic Sciences.
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The article appeared in Volume 18 of the Journal of Atherosclerosis and Thrombosis.
The College of Dental Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, founded in 1917, is located in northern Manhattan. In addition to providing education programs for pre- and post-doctoral candidates, CDM conducts research in state-of-the-art facilities and oversees an extensive community-based service program for residents in the surrounding community – a federally designated medical and dental manpower shortage area. Outreach into the community includes dental programs in seven area public schools, a dental van, and three off-site community-based dental clinics, providing state-of-the-art care to an underserved population as well as a rich learning environment for students at CDM. Visit us on the web: www.dental.columbia.edu
Columbia University Medical Center provides international leadership in basic, pre-clinical and clinical research, in medical and health sciences education, and in patient care. The medical center trains future leaders and includes the dedicated work of many physicians, scientists, public health professionals, dentists, and nurses at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, the Mailman School of Public Health, the College of Dental Medicine, the School of Nursing, the biomedical departments of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and allied research centers and institutions. Established in 1767, Columbia's College of Physicians and Surgeons was the first institution in the country to grant the M.D. degree and is now among the most selective medical schools in the country. Columbia University Medical Center is home to the most comprehensive medical research enterprise in New York City and State and one of the largest in the United States. Columbia University Medical Center is affiliated with NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, the nation's largest not-for-profit, non-sectarian hospital provider. For more information, please visit www.cumc.columbia.edu.
Ping
;^)
It was not all that long ago that they thought stomach ulcers were caused by stress, now they know their is a bacterial cause and treat with antibiotics so this would not be surprising
Let the eating of fried foods begin...!!!
I remember years ago when a researcher claimed that stomach ulcers were caused by a virus as well. He was pilloried by the establishment and his career was ruined. Several years later, some other studies came out and proved him correct.
Ya beat me to it.
I remember the study too. As I recall, his researched indicated that MOST stomach ulcers were caused by a virus...
There's going to be lots of folks lying cold in their respective graves (or on a shelf in their urns) before these "scientists" get finished with their "further studies"!!
Time is of the essence!
While working as a microbiology research assistant in the mid 70s there was a big stir around a microbiologist whose research showed that ulcers were caused by a specific bacterial infection. He was shouted down and told by the medical community to pound sand because ulcers were caused by stress. It only took about 25 years for his research to be accepted. A bacterial role in atherosclerosis would not be suprising.
Read the History section of the Wikipedia article on H. Pylori. I thought it was one Australian doctor but it was two. And...there were an Italian and a Pole who knew of such bacteria in the 1890s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helicobacter_pylori
The bacteria was/is H. Pylori.
Well, the bacterial content thereof could take some prolonged and discomfiting study.
There's going to be lots of folks lying cold in their respective graves (or on a shelf in their urns) before these "scientists" get finished with their "further studies"!!
Time is of the essence!
Seems to me that they are actual scientists and not "scientists." And what do you expect from them? A miracle cure?
Cultivation of Enterobacter Hormaechei from Human Atherosclerotic Tissue
Foamy macrophages allow TB agent to survive in infected individuals
Are these generalized or specific immune defects?
Elevated LDL-cholesterol and low HDL-cholesterol levels are considered "risk factors," not unlike, smoking, high blood pressue, family history, etc.
Hell YES!! And at the double quick! And for free!
Aaaarrrrrgh....{gack...}.....thud!!
heart attack ping
I remember that, two men. I think they ended up winning the Nobel Prize in Medicine (a real Nobel not the fake “Peace” one).
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