人類巨噬細胞病毒(Cytomegalovirus; CMV)可造成無症狀感染，對於免疫不全的個體，更是危及生命的病原。近年有學者證實，冠心症(Coronary artery disease; CAD)屬慢性發炎性疾病，繼而提出慢性感染可能是病因之一，其中又以CMV感染最受矚目。在此篇研究中，我們收集了60位健康正常人和93位冠心症患者共153人，分別偵測其血清中發炎物質濃度、CMV抗體含量、全血中CMV核酸定性及定量。結果顯示：1.冠心症患者體內發炎物質遠高於正常對照組。2.兩組間CMV抗體陽性率並無差別，但若以抗體效價分級，則冠心症組有較高的趨勢。3. CMV PCR陽性率在兩組間並無明顯差異，然而陽性者在兩組之病毒量確有顯著的不同(p<0.05)。結論：CMV抗體、CMV nested PCR陽性率與冠心症無關，而在CMV PCR陽性個體，冠心症組血中CMV病毒量較對照組顯著增加。

Primary CMV infection is usually asymptomatic and results in latent, lifelong persistence of the viral genome. Periodically, the virus might reactivate from latency and regain its ability to multiply. CMV is a major cause of life-threatening illness in immunocompromised patients. Various lines of evidence suggest that chronic inflammation is involved in the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis and its complications including coronary artery disease (CAD). Several infectious agents, particularly CMV, have been suggested to play a role in the development of atherosclerosis. In this study, we measured serum levels of IL-6, anti-CMV IgG (α CMV IgG), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) by ELISA or nephelometry, CMV qualitative analysis by nested PCR, and CMV viral load quantitative analysis by real time PCR in 93 CAD patients and 60 normal healthy controls. Our study showed that the levels of IL-6, and hs-CRP were significantly increased in patients with CAD (p=0.002 and p<0.001, respectively). There was no statistical significance in α CMV IgG positive rate in both groups, however, there was a trend for higher antibody titers in the CAD group according to the quartile levels of analysis (p=0.078). In nested PCR positive cases, the CMV viral loads were significantly elevated in CAD patients than in normal controls (p<0.05); meanwhile, there was no difference in CMV positive rates between the two groups using nested PCR qualitative assay. Conclusion: In CMV nested PCR positive cases, CMV viral loads were significantly elevated in CAD patients than in normal controls. However, there were no differences in CMV nested PCR and CMV IgG positive rates between the two groups.