title: Investigation on torquetenovirus (TTV) microRNA transcriptome in vivo.
abstract: Torquetenovirus (TTV) is a widespread anellovirus that establishes persistent infections in human showing an increased viremia in immunosuppressed patients. TTV possesses microRNA (miRNA)-coding sequences that might be involved in viral immune evasion. Here, the presence of TTV DNA and miRNAs expression was investigated in plasma samples of 77 diseased (20 infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), 18 infected with hepatitis B (HBV) virus, 18 infected with hepatitis C (HCV) virus, 21 solid organ transplanted) patients, and 25 healthy controls. TTV prevalence was significantly different in healthy controls (60%, 15/25) versus diseased patients (80%, 62/77), showing the highest TTV loads in transplant recipients. Genetic TTV analysis showed the highest prevalence of group 1, followed by groups 3, 4 and 5, and a lack of isolates of group 2. The expression of at least one TTV miRNAs of group 1, 3 and 5 was found in exosomes of plasma of the great majority of individuals (96%, 98/102 subjects) showing the higher prevalence of miRNAs of TTV group 3 (90%, 92/102), followed by miRNAs of group 1 (66%, 67/102), and miRNA of group 5 (49%, 50/102). TTV miRNAs expression and TTV viremia were not always directly correlated, and significant differences appeared in production of some TTV miRNAs between healthy controls and diseased patients. The reported TTV miRNAs status in exosomes encourages further investigation to understand their potential role in the expansion of anelloviruses upon immunosuppression.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy.
authors.forename: Tiziano
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vignolini
authors.affiliation: Virology Unit, Pisa University Hospital, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Lisa
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Macera
authors.affiliation: Pasteur Institute-Cenci Bolognetti Foundation, Department of Molecular Medicine, Laboratory of Virology, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Guido
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Antonelli
authors.affiliation: Virology Unit, Pisa University Hospital, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Mauro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pistello
authors.affiliation: Virology Unit, Pisa University Hospital, Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Maggi
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence, Italy. Electronic address: simone.giannecchini@unifi.it.
authors.forename: Simone
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Giannecchini
mesh_terms: D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000097:blood / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood; D016377:Organ Transplantation; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D022783:Torque teno virus / Q000235:genetics*; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D035683:MicroRNAs; D012367:RNA, Viral
keywords: Anelloviridae; Exosomes; Immunosuppressive status; MicroRNA expression; Torquetenevirus