title: Detection and genotyping of torque teno virus (TTV) in healthy blood donors and patients infected with HBV or HCV in Qatar.
abstract: Torque Teno virus (TTV) has been associated with non A-G hepatitis. The goal of this study was to estimate the infection rates and genotypic characteristics of TTV in the State of Qatar. A total of 644 blood samples representing different nationalities: (i) Qatari (118) and (ii) non-Qatari (526) nationals (mostly from Arab and South Eeast Asia countries) were tested for the presence of TTV DNA by nested PCR. The majority (573) of the blood samples belonged to healthy blood donors, whereas 54 and 53 of the blood samples belonged to patients infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV), respectively. The results obtained showed that the TTV infection rates in the healthy blood donors, and those infected with HBV or HCV patients were 81.4, 90.75 and 84.9%, respectively. Significant association between TTV viremia and age, or nationality was observed. Sequence analysis of PCR fragments amplified from the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of all (531) TTV positive samples showed that 65.5% (348/531) of the PCR fragment sequences were classified into main genogroup 3, followed by main genogroups 5 (24%), 2 (5.8%), and 1 (4.7%). Genogroup 4 was not detected among the our studied subjects. Phylogenetic and pairwise analyses using sequences from TTV viremic samples also showed an overall close similarity to the main genogroup 3. In conclusion, there was no significant difference in the rates of TTV detection among Qataris and non-Qataris and several genotypes, mainly genotype 3, were isolated.
authors: Department of Basic Sciences, College of Science and Health Professions, King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences (KSAU-HS), National Guard Health Affairs, Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
authors: Raed
authors: R
authors: AbuOdeh
authors: Naema
authors: N
authors: Al-Mawlawi
authors: Ahmed A
authors: AA
authors: Al-Qahtani
authors: Marie Fe F
authors: MF
authors: Bohol
authors: Mohammed N
authors: MN
authors: Al-Ahdal
authors: Haydar A
authors: HA
authors: Hasan
authors: Lamees
authors: L
authors: AbuOdeh
authors: Gheyath K
authors: GK
authors: Nasrallah
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D060085:Coinfection; D004266:DNA Virus Infections / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004279:DNA, Viral; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D005838:Genotype; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010802:Phylogeny; D011159:Population Surveillance; D011780:Qatar / Q000453:epidemiology; D022783:Torque teno virus / Q000145:classification* / Q000235:genetics*; D014766:Viremia; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral
keywords: HBV; HCV; PCR; TTV; phylogenetic analysis