Atherosclerosis is pathologically similar to a chronic inflammatory response.
Recent reports have suggested that Chlamydia pneumoniae may play a role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The Jewish Hospital Heart and Lung Institute in Louisville, Kentucky, and several laboratories. Culture for C. pneumoniae was done in HEp-2 cell monolayers. Chlamydia pneumoniae was cultured from atherosclerotic plaques in one patient with severe coronary artery disease. The organism was found in the atheromas of this patient by PCR assay, immunocytochemistry, electron microscopy, and in situ hybridization.