[BK and JC polyomavirus detection in leukocyte extracts of peripheral blood samples of HIV+ patients from the north area of Santiago].
BACKGROUND
Polyomavirus BK (BKPyV) and JC (JCPyV) are persistent pathogens able to reactivate in im-munocompromised patients, involving mostly urinary and central nervous system. There are no Chilean studies in HIV positive patients.


OBJECTIVE
To detect BKPyV and JCPyV in blood of Chilean HIV positive adult patients and to correlate these results with clinical-related variables.


METHODS
96 stored blood samples from HIV patients belonging to the north area of Santiago were analyzed. Viral genomes of both viruses were detected by real-time PCR. For statistical analysis, chi-square (Pearson) and Mann-Whitney tests were used and p-values < 0.05 were considered significant.


RESULTS
33% of the samples were positive for BKPyV and a significant correlation was found between the presence of BKPyV genome and the absence of detectable HIV viral load. We demonstrated the need to consider more than one amplification target to detect the BKPyV genome. All the samples were negative for JCPyV genome.


CONCLUSIONS
BKPyV prevalence in Chilean HIV patients is higher than most of international studies. New studies regarding the interaction between both viruses are required. These patients should undergo periodic evaluations by urologist and nephrologist.
Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
María José
MJ
Martínez
Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile, jchnaiderman@med.uchile.cl.
Claudia
C
Moreno
Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Jorge
J
Levican
Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Mónica
M
Peña
Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Aldo
A
Gaggero
Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas, Facultad de Medicina, Universidad de Chile, Santiago, Chile, jchnaiderman@med.uchile.cl.
Jonás
J
Chnaiderman
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D001739:BK Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002677:Chile; D004587:Electrophoresis, Agar Gel; D005260:Female; D016679:Genome, Viral; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007577:JC Virus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D007962:Leukocytes / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012737:Sex Factors; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D019562:Viral Load; D055815:Young Adult