title: Identification of a unique BK virus variant in the CNS of a patient with AIDS.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway.
authors.forename: Gunn Eli Kimo
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Jørgensen
authors.forename: Anna-Lena
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Hammarin
authors.forename: Gøran
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bratt
authors.forename: Monica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Grandien
authors.forename: Trond
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Flaegstad
authors.forename: John Inge
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Johnsen
mesh_terms: 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
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral