Chlamydia trachomatis Strains and Virulence: Rethinking Links to Infection Prevalence and Disease Severity

An unanswered question concerning prevalence and disease severity of Chlamydia trachomatis genital infection is whether more prevalent strains or strains more likely to cause serious disease complications are causally associated with specific virulence attributes. The major method for distinguishing chlamydial strains is based on differences in the major outer membrane protein (MOMP). A subset of MOMP serovars (D and E serovars) are easily the most prevalent strains identified worldwide, but MOMP serovar and genovar analyses have not yielded consistent strain-dependent virulence distinctions. Expansion of the definitions of chlamydial strains beyond the MOMP paradigm are needed to better understand virulence properties for this pathogen and how these properties reflect disease severity. Substantive genetic and phenotypic differences have emerged for the 2 major C. trachomatis pathobiotypes associated with either trachoma or sexually transmitted diseases, but differences within the sexually transmitted disease group have not yielded reliable disease severity attributes. A number of candidate virulence factors have been identified, including the polymorphic outer membrane autotransporter family of proteins, the putative large cytotoxin, type III secretion effectors, stress response proteins, and proteins or other regulatory factors produced by the cryptic plasmid. Continued work on development of a chlamydial gene transfer system and application of genomic approaches to large collections of clinical isolates will be required to associate key chlamydial virulence factors with prevalence and disease severity in a definitive way.