title: Viral latency in blood and saliva of simian foamy virus-infected humans.
abstract: Simian foamy viruses (SFV) are widespread retroviruses among non-human primates (NHP). SFV actively replicate in the oral cavity and can be transmitted to humans through NHP bites, giving rise to a persistent infection. We aimed at studying the natural history of SFV infection in human. We have analyzed viral load and gene expression in 14 hunters from Cameroon previously shown to be infected with a gorilla SFV strain. Viral DNA could be detected by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (q-PCR) targeting the pol-in region, in most samples of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) (7.1 ± 6.0 SFV DNA copies/105 PBMCs) and saliva (2.4 ± 4.3 SFV DNA copies/105 cells) derived from the hunters. However, quantitative real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT)-qPCR revealed the absence of SFV viral gene expression in both PBMCs and saliva, suggesting that SFV was latent in the human samples. Our study demonstrates that a latent infection can occur in humans and persist for years, both in PBMCs and saliva. Such a scenario may contribute to the putative lack of secondary human-to-human transmissions of SFV.
authors.affiliation: Department of Virology, Unit of Epidemiology and Physiopathology of Oncogenic Viruses, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France ; Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Institut Pasteur, Paris, France ; Paris Diderot University, Cellule Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: Rejane
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rua
authors.forename: Edouard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Betsem
authors.forename: Antoine
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gessain
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000818:Animals; D001769:Blood / Q000821:virology; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000302:isolation & purification; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000821:virology; D008875:Middle Aged; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000821:virology*; D012463:Saliva / Q000821:virology*; D053150:Simian foamy virus / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D017735:Virus Latency; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral