Antibody response to the chlamydial heat-shock protein 60 in an experimental model of chronic pelvic inflammatory disease in monkeys (Macaca nemestrina)

A primate model of chlamydial pelvic inflammatory disease was used to characterize serum antibody responses to the 60 kDa chlamydial heat shock protein (CHSP60). Forty monkeys were infected in the fallopian tubes with Chlamydia trachomatis and then were treated, Twenty-three (58%) monkeys developed antibodies against CHSP60, of whom 6 (15%) had CHSP60 responses that persisted throughout the study and 17 (42.5%) had a transient response. A persistent CHSP60 antibody response was correlated with being culture- or ligase chain reaction-positive in the fallopian tubes (P =.004), but not in the cervix pretreatment, and with being tubal-positive posttreatment (P =.02). Compared with tubal-negative monkeys, tubal-positive monkeys had more intense CHSP60 responses (P =.006) that lasted longer (P =.002). Among CHSP60 responders, an OD > 0.5 was correlated with more severe salpingeal pathology before treatment (P =.04), CHSP60 antibody response may be useful as a marker of persistent chlamydial infection in the fallopian tubes.