Molecular study of human herpesvirus 6 and 8 involvement in coronary atherosclerosis and coronary instability.
Several lines of evidence suggest the involvement of infectious agents in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Furthermore, a correlation between infection-driven inflammatory burden and acute manifestation of coronary artery disease has been hypothesized. The aim of this work was to assess whether human herpesvirus (HHV)-6 and HHV-8, two DNA viruses with a distinct tropism for endothelium and lymphocytes, may be associated with coronary instability. An age- and gender-matched cross-sectional study was undertaken in 70 patients with testing of plasma HHV-6 and HHV-8 DNA load in different cardiovascular clinical settings: 29 patients with acute myocardial infarction, 21 patients with stable coronary artery disease, and 20 patients without coronary and carotid artery atherosclerosis subjected to cardiac valve replacement. In all patients, HHV-6 and HHV-8 plasma DNA was tested by using highly sensitive, calibrated quantitative real-time PCR assays which employ a synthetic DNA calibrator to adjust for DNA extraction and amplification efficiency. HHV-8 viremia was undetectable in all three groups. HHV-6 viremia was detected in a substantial fraction of the samples examined (18.6%) without significant differences among the three groups (ST segment elevation myocardial infarction: 17.2%; stable coronary artery disease: 14.3%; patients without coronary and carotid artery atherosclerosis: 25%). Furthermore, no significant differences in plasma HHV-6 load were observed amongst the three groups of patients. These findings indicate that coronary instability is not associated specifically with active HHV-6 or HHV-8 infection. However, an unusually high rate of active HHV-6 infection was documented among patients without atherosclerosis admitted to hospital with cardiac disease.
Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Diseases, University Vita-Salute, San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy. magnoni.marco@tiscali.it
Marco
M
Magnoni
Mauro
M
Malnati
Nicole
N
Cristell
Stefano
S
Coli
Domenico
D
Russo
Giacomo
G
Ruotolo
Domenico
D
Cianflone
Ottavio
O
Alfieri
Paolo
P
Lusso
Attilio
A
Maseri
D000368:Aged; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D005260:Female; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D019288:Herpesvirus 8, Human / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology; D015995:Prevalence; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D019562:Viral Load; D014766:Viremia / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology
D004279:DNA, Viral