人附红细胞体感染对动脉粥样硬化的影响

Hemotrophic mycoplasmas（HM) infection is a rare disease in human. The pathogen is a genus of blood-born epicellular parasitic organism found in different species of vertebrate. The prevalence of human HM infection in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region is the highest in China, with over 70% in some areas. In addition, the incidence of atherosclerotic coronary disease in the Mongolian people in the area is the highest（15.8%） as well in our country. Our previous study found that a few inoculated animals with human HM had developed atherosclerotic lesion in aorta, but the control murine models with no clear lesions. So we have a hypothesis that the HM infection may accelerate atherosclerosis (AS). However, there is no report regarding the relationship between HM infection and AS lesion formation. The two main questions will be addressed in this programme, 1). Can HM infection promote atherosclerotic lesion formation? 2). If it can, what are the possible mechanisms? To answer all the questions, we will follow two steps: first, inoculating LDLR-/- mouse with HM; second, staining the heart and aorta sections with different specific antibodies, which will be analyzed with light and confocal microscopes to investigate the composition of the atherosclerotic lesion and the effects of HM infection on the lesion size. The gene expression in the lesion area will be characterized with cDNA microarray assay to work out the possible mechanisms. If our hypothesis is true, a new prevention and treatment procedure for AS will be proposed in Inner Mongolia area in the future.

附红细胞体病是少见的人畜共患性血液传染病，内蒙古地区人的感染率却很高，居全国首位，部分地区达70%以上。另外本区40岁以上人群，冠心病患病率也居全国首位，达15.8%。我们前期研究人附红细胞体(HM)感染时偶然发现，感染HM的个别小鼠模型，其主动脉有动脉粥样硬化(AS)样病变，而无HM感染者极少有类似变化，所以怀疑AS除其他多种因素外，HM感染有可能促进AS的发展，而有关两者相关性的研究，国内外尚无报导。本课题主要想探讨两个问题：1)HM感染对AS是否有促进作用？2)如果有，作用机制是什么？具体工作包括：1）HM接种敲除低密度脂蛋白受体的小鼠，观察HM感染是否可以促进AS的发展；2)用免疫组化、分子生物学技术，阐明其可能的机制。主要实验手段包括普通显微镜、Confocal观察AS斑块组成和Microarray分析病变部位基因表达，揭示两者的相关性和可能机制，提出在本地区防治AS的新思路。