title: Association between oral HSV-1 and survival in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplanted patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study was designed to investigate the effect of oral HSV-1 shedding on the survival of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplanted (allo-HSCT) patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred nineteen allo-HSCT patients were included in the study and divided in three groups: before transplant, 100 days after transplant and 1 year of allo-HSCT. Healthy volunteers matched by age and gender were also selected. Oral swabs were performed and the nested PCR was used to detect HSV-1 presence in the oral mucosa. In statistical analysis, chi-square test was used to test the distribution of HSV1 shedding among the three groups. Time to death after allo-HSCT was displayed by means of the Kaplan-Meier method and the results were compared by the log-rank test. Cox proportional hazards multivariate model was used to evaluate the survival.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We observed that HSV-1 shedding was similar at different points after allo-HSCT. However, HSV-1 shedding before allo-HSCT was associated with worst survival rates after allo-HSCT in multivariate analysis.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our data demonstrates that HSV-1 shedding in oral mucosa before transplant is associated with worst survival rate of allo-HSCT patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry, Universidade Estadual de Montes Claros, Montes Claros, Brazil. andreluizguimaraes@gmail.com
authors.forename: Andre Luiz Sena
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Guimaraes
authors.forename: Carolina Cavalieri
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Gomes
authors.forename: Luciano Marques
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: da Silva
authors.forename: Jeane de Fatima
authors.initials: Jde F
authors.lastname: Correia-Silva
authors.forename: Junia Maria Neto
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Victoria
authors.forename: Ricardo Santiago
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: Henrique
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bittencourt
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000401:mortality*; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009061:Mouth Mucosa / Q000821:virology*; D015996:Survival Rate; D055815:Young Adult