title: Detection of common viruses using the polymerase chain reaction to assess levels of viral presence in type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients.
abstract: The polymerase chain reaction was used to detect a range of common viruses in the peripheral blood of Type 1 diabetic and non-diabetic control patients in order to identify any abnormal viral presence, with possible roles in the pathogenesis of Type 1 diabetes. Peripheral blood from 17 newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetic patients, 38 Type 1 diabetic patients with disease of longer duration, and 43 age and sex matched non-diabetic controls was obtained. Samples were screened for cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr virus, enterovirus (including coxsackie), and mumps virus. Cytomegalovirus was detected in control patients only (5%), Epstein-Barr virus was detected equally in newly diagnosed and control patients (12%), and enterovirus was detected slightly more frequently in diabetic than non-diabetic patients (41% and 31%, respectively). Mumps virus was not detected in any of the samples. It is concluded that Type 1 diabetic individuals are neither more prone to persistence of common viruses nor to more frequent acute infections with the viruses tested for than non-diabetic individuals. If common viruses are involved in the pathogenesis of Type 1 diabetes then they act either as non-specific agents to which the host has abnormal immune responses, or, the diabetogenic viruses are eliminated from the body by the time of disease diagnosis.
authors.affiliation: Academic Unit of Pathological Sciences, Department of Clinical Medicine, University of Leeds, UK.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Foy
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Quirke
authors.forename: F A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Futers
authors.forename: H J
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Bodansky
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001483:Base Sequence; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D003922:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 1 / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014780:Viruses / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D012367:RNA, Viral