Immune Protection AgainstChlamydia trachomatisin Females

[摘要] Despite significant advances in our understanding of the biology and antigenic structure ofChlamydia trachomatis, and the epidemiology and clinical spectrum of chlamydial disease, the magnitude ofmorbidity from human chlamydial infections remains an important public health concern. Controlof chlamydial disease will likely depend on a multidisciplinary approach, including the developmentof immunoprophylactic or immunotherapeutic strategies. Reasonable progress has been made inunderstanding specific immune mechanisms that contribute to host immunity in experimental modelsof chlamydial infection. However, studies of human immunity have not been so successful. Thisis particularly evident in that studies to address the development and role of mucosal immuneresponses to urogenital chlamydial infections have not been forthcoming. The following review isa brief summary of our current knowledge of protective immunity to chlamydial urogenital infectionsof females. It is not meant to be exhaustive, but instead to touch upon aspects of protective immunitythat have been described in both human and experimental animal models of chlamydialinfection.

[学科分类] 妇产科学