Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, Hannover Medical School, Carl Neuberg Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany. fnjau@yahoo.com
A total of 189 temporal artery biopsy samples from giant cell arteritis (GCA) patients were investigated using sensitive PCR targeting Chlamydia pneumoniae. Chlamydial DNA was detected in 17 samples, 11 of which were positive for chlamydial antigens. Our data did not reveal strong evidence that C. pneumoniae plays an important role in the pathogenesis of GCA.