Table 1.

 Summary of immunohistochemical analysis, PCR, RT-PCR, and plaque grade data

Patient	Age (years)/sex	Macrophage grade	Foam cell grade	C pneumoniae PCR	MMP-9 RT-PCR	Stage of atherosclerosis*	Immunostaining
							C pneumoniae	MMP-9
1	58/M	4+	1+	–	+	VIa	3+	2+
2	67/M	1+	0	+	+	VIc	1+	1+
3	63/M	2+	2+	–	+	IV	4+	2+
4	59/M	2+	0	–	+	Vc	1+	1+
5	51/M	3+	1+	–	+	Vc	2+	2+
6	53/M	3+	2+	–	+	Vb	0	3+
7	70/F	4+	3+	–	+	Va	3+	3+
8	37/M	1+	0	–	+	II	4+	4+
9	66/M	2+	1+	–	+	Vb	3+	2+
10	49/M	2+	3+	–	+	Vb	0	2+
11	60/M	2+	3+	–	+	Vb	1+	1+
12	69/M	2+	3+	–	–	Vb	0	0
13	52/M	4+	3+	–	+	Vc	0	1+
14	58/M	3+	NT	–	+	IV	2+	3+
15	35/M	1+	NT	–	+	I	0	2+
16	27/M	2+	2+	+	+	Va	2+	2+
17	48/M	1+	0	–	–	Vb	0	0
18	56/F	4+	4+	–	NT	VIa	0	2+
19	55/M	3+	1+	–	+	Va	3+	1+
20	53/M	2+	2+	–	NT	IV	3+	2+
21	75/M	1+	1+	–	NT	Vc	2+	2+
22	68/M	3+	2+	–	+	Va	2+	3+
23	71/M	2+	0	+	+	Va	1+	2+
24	65/M	2+	1+	–	–	III	3+	1+
25	70/M	2+	0	–	+	Vb	2+	1+
26	72/M	3+	2+	–	+	Vc	2+	2+
27	50/M	3+	3+	–	+	Vb	4+	2+
28	59/F	1+	0	–	–	Va	0	0
29	69/M	2+	1+	+	+	Va	2+	1+
30	76/M	3+	1+	–	+	Vc	2+	1+
31	64/M	2+	3+	–	–	Vc	0	0

Immunohistochemistry data shown as grades 0 to 4+.

*Classified according to the recommendations by Stary et al.²⁵

C pneumoniae, Chlamydia pneumoniae; F, female; M, male; MMP-9, matrix metalloproteinase-9; NT, not tested; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; RT-PCR, reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction.