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European Journal of Dermatology

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Bacterial DNA signatures in carotid atherosclerosis represent both commensals and pathogens of skin origin Volume 23, numéro 1, January-February 2013

Auteurs
Department of Medical Biochemistry,, CB Defence and Environmental Health Centre, Centre for Military Medicine, Helsinki, Finland, Department of Biology, Minot State University, Minot, ND, USA, Department of Surgery,, Department of Clinical Chemistry, University of Tampere School of Medicine, 33014 Tampere, Finland, Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of Turku, Turku, Finland

Infectious agents have been suggested to be involved in atherosclerosis. By using a novel subtraction broad-range PCR approach, we defined bacterial DNA signatures in surgically removed sterile carotid artery endarterectomy plaques of patients with carotid atherosclerosis. Eighty partial bacterial 16S rDNA nucleotide sequences from eight patients were studied. Furthermore, 34 clones representing 21 bacterial sequence-types from the reagents used for DNA extraction and PCR amplification were determined. After subtraction of these potential methodological contaminants, 23 bacterial sequence-types were considered as clinically relevant findings. The most prominent phylum, Actinobacteria, accounted for 74 % of these relevant sequences. Furthermore, according to the Human Microbiome project database, interestingly, nearly all (94%) of the sequences were associated with the human skin microbiome.