Identification of a unique BK virus variant in the CNS of a patient with AIDS.
Human polyomavirus BK (BKV; GenBank or EMBL or DDBJ accession no. NC001538) is often reactivated in immunosuppressed patients. Reactivation has been associated primarily with excretion of the virus in the urine, and there have been few reports of renal and/or neurological disease caused by BKV in patients with acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). Polymerase chain reaction, Southern blotting, and sequencing were used to detect and identify the noncoding control region (NCCR) of BKV in different tissues in an AIDS patient with meningoencephalitis, retinitis, and nephritis. An undescribed reorganized NCCR variant of the virus, completely different from the variants detected in peripheral blood leukocytes (PBLs) and urine, was identified in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and CNS tissues. These results suggest that rearrangements in the NCCR of the virus have resulted in a BKV variant, which is better adapted to the host cell machinery of the cells in CNS tissue. The rearranged variant (BKV CNS) might have been involved in the initiation and/or development of the pathological lesions observed in the CNS-related tissues of this patient.
Jørgensen
Gunn Eli Kimo
GE
Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway.
Hammarin
Anna-Lena
AL
Bratt
Gøran
G
Grandien
Monica
M
Flaegstad
Trond
T
Johnsen
John Inge
JI
D017088:AIDS-Related Opportunistic Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D000328:Adult; D001739:BK Virus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000821:virology*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D015321:Gene Rearrangement / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D016867:Immunocompromised Host; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000821:virology; D008297:Male; D008590:Meningoencephalitis / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009395:Nephritis, Interstitial / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid / Q000235:genetics / Q000821:virology; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D027601:Polyomavirus Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000821:virology; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012173:Retinitis / Q000821:virology; D014556:Urine / Q000821:virology
D004279:DNA, Viral