[Prevalence of glycoprotein B (gB) genotypes in the patients with high risk of symptomatic cytomegalovirus infection].
OBJECTIVE
Based on genetic variability of the dominant envelope glycoprotein (gB), human cytomegalovirus is classified into four major genotypes. The aims were to determine the prevalence of particular gB genotypes in Czech CMV-infected patients and to compare three groups of the patients with high risk of symptomatic CMV infection, i.e., haematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients, HIV-positive persons and infants.


METHODS
The study was performed on 134 archived CMV-positive DNA isolates from the patients tested in the National Reference Laboratory for Herpesviruses in 2004-2007. For genotyping, the variable part of gB was amplified and analysed using the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) method.


RESULTS
The most frequently detected genotype was gB1 (33%), followed by gB2 (29%), gB3 (18%) and gB4 (7%). However, the distribution of gB genotypes varied between groups of high-risk patients: gB2 dominated in HIV-positives (55%, p = 0.004), while gB3 was most common in HSCT recipients (26%, p = 0.03) and gB4 was relatively more frequent in infants (20%, p = 0.03). In HSCT recipients, we found increased frequency of gB3 (26%, p = 0.03) and co-infection with two or more gB genotypes (17%, p = 0.016).


CONCLUSIONS
The distribution of CMV gB genotypes from Czech CMV-infected patients is similar to that reported in other European countries or in the United States. Differences in the prevalence of CMV gB genotypes between groups of high-risk patients indicate variation in biological properties of particular gB genotypes, possibly resulting in distinct virulence, immunogenicity or epidemiological characteristics of circulating strains.
Centrum laboratorních cinností, Státní zdravotni ústav, Praha. kroubalova@vidia.cz
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K
Roubalová
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S
Zufanová
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Vítek
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M
Stanková
D000328:Adult; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000821:virology*; D016679:Genome, Viral; D006679:HIV Seropositivity / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D012150:Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C040495:glycoprotein B, Simplexvirus