title: Detection of JC virus type 1 in peripheral lymphocytes, brain and cerebrospinal fluid from two Korean AIDS patients with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.
abstract: The human polyomavirus JC virus (JCV) is the etiologic agent of the fatal demyelinating central nervous system disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), which occurs in 4-7% of AIDS patients. Two Korean AIDS patients with PML were assayed for JCV, and the virus was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction, DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis. Using immunohistochemical analysis, we also examined the distribution of JCV antigen in the brains of the patients. The JCV genome was detected in peripheral lymphocytes, brain and cerebrospinal fluid from these Korean PML patients. Although type 2 is the most common genotype in Asia, the genotype of the JCV in these two AIDS patients was characterized as type 1, which is of European origin. We found that JCV antigen was selectively detected in oligodendrocytes and astrocytes of the brains from these patients. Compared to the prototype type 1 (Mad-1), two different nucleotides (G-->C) in the KOR-1 strain identified here were found at positions 2488 and 2490 of the major capsid protein VP1 gene. In summary, this is the first report of PML in Korean AIDS patients; it is also the first isolation of JCV type 1 in PML in East Asians.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Environment and Life Science, College of Medicine, Hallym University, Chunchon, Korea.
authors.forename: Byung-Hoon
authors.initials: BH
authors.lastname: Jeong
authors.forename: Jae-Kwang
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.forename: Eun-Kyoung
authors.initials: EK
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Kyung-Hoon
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kang-Won
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.forename: Myoung-Don
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Oh
authors.forename: Ki-Chul
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.forename: Yong-Sun
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Kim
mesh_terms: D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000821:virology*; D001483:Base Sequence; D001921:Brain / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007577:JC Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007723:Korea; D007968:Leukoencephalopathy, Progressive Multifocal / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000821:virology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010802:Phylogeny; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral