Investigation of HSV-1, HSV-2, CMV, HHV-6 and HHV-8 DNA by real-time PCR in surgical resection materials of epilepsy patients with mesial temporal lobe sclerosis.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of this study is to investigate the presence of viral DNAs of HSV-1, HSV-2, HHV-6, HHV-8, and CMV in hippocampus of the patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) syndrome.


METHODS
Pathological specimens were obtained from 33 patients with MTLE undergone temporal lobectomy with amygdalo-hippocampectomy due to intractable seizures. Autopsy materials from the hippocampus of 7 patients without neurological disease were used as controls. The data was also correlated with the clinical history of patients including febrile convulsions, age, and history of CNS infections. Real-time polymerase chain reaction method was performed for detection of DNAs of these viruses.


RESULTS
HHV-6, HSV-1 and HHV-8 were detected in the hippocampus of 3, 2 and 1 patients with MTLE respectively. None of the hippocampus of patients with MTLE was positive for DNA of HSV-2 and/or CMV. Three patients with positive HHV-6 DNAs had febrile convulsions and family history for epilepsy. None of our control specimens showed PCR positivity to any of the 5 tested viruses.


CONCLUSIONS
Our study is the first to report the presence of HHV-8 viral genome in the brain tissue of patient with MTLE. Viral DNAs were detected in a total of 18% of the patients in this study; we can conclude that activity of the latent virus in patients with hippocampal sclerosis should be more extensively studied to establish its role in active infection.
Karatas
Hulya
H
Hacettepe University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, Sihhiye, Ankara, 06100, Turkey. hulyak@hacettepe.edu.tr
Gurer
Gunfer
G
Pinar
Ahmet
A
Soylemezoglu
Figen
F
Tezel
Gaye Guler
GG
Hascelik
Gulsen
G
Akalan
Nejat
N
Tuncer
Serdar
S
Ciger
Abdurrahman
A
Saygi
Serap
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001344:Autopsy; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000235:genetics; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis*; D020803:Encephalitis, Herpes Simplex / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000150:complications; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics*; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000235:genetics; D018258:Herpesvirus 2, Human / Q000235:genetics; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000235:genetics; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D017735:Virus Latency / Q000235:genetics