JCV Infection (jcv + infection)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


Presence and expression of JCV early gene large T Antigen in the brains of immunocompromised and immunocompetent individuals

JOURNAL OF MEDICAL VIROLOGY, Issue 12 2008
Serena Delbue
Abstract JC virus (JCV) is a polyomavirus that asymptomatically infects up to 80% of the worldwide human population and establishes latency in the kidney. In the case of host immunodeficiency, it can cause progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), which is a fatal demyelinating disease of the central nervous system. In an attempt to understand better PML pathogenesis and JCV infection, the presence of the JCV genome and expression of the early viral protein in the brain of deceased individuals, with and without HIV infection, was investigated. Sixty autopsy samples of brain tissues were collected from 15 HIV-positive PML patients, 15 HIV-positive patients with other neurological diseases, 15 HIV-positive patients without neurological disorders, and 15 HIV-negative individuals who died from diseases unrelated to the central nervous system. By means of specific Real Time Polymerase Chain Reaction, the JCV genome was detected in 14 of 15 PML brains, three of 15 HIV-positive brains (with and without neurological diseases), and 1 of 15 HIV-negative brains. JCV genotyping was also performed. Expression of the early JCV protein T Antigen was verified by a specific immunohistochemistry assay, and it was found in the brain tissues from 12 PML cases and one case with other neurological disease. The data obtained demonstrate that infection of the brain with JCV can also be observed in the brains of HIV-negative individuals, without neurological disorders. However, viral protein expression was limited to PML brains and to one brain from a patient with other neurological disease, suggesting that JCV can also be present in the brains of patients without PML. J. Med. Virol. 80:2147,2152, 2008. © 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]


Inhibitory effect of serotonin antagonists on JC virus propagation in a carrier culture of human neuroblastoma cells

MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY, Issue 9 2009
Souichi Nukuzuma
ABSTRACT Human polyomavirus, JCV, causes fatal demyelinating disease, progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). It has been shown that 5HT2AR acts as a cellular receptor for JCV on human glial cells. In the current study, we examined the inhibitory effects of 5HT2AR antagonists, ketanserin and ritanserin, both on JCV infection and on propagation by using human neuroblastoma cells IMR-32 and JCI, which continuously produce JCV. Transcriptional analysis revealed that 5HT2AR was constitutively expressed in JCI cells. Treatments with 5HT2AR antagonists led to a significant reduction in the titers of progeny viruses and the population of infected JCI cells. In addition, the amount of JCV genomic DNA was decreased in JCI cells in the presence of 5HT2AR antagonists. These results indicate that 5HT2AR antagonists have an inhibitory effect on JCV infection and reproduction, and JCI cells are applicable to an experimental model for pharmacological evaluation of antiviral agents against JCV. [source]


JC virus persistence following progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy in multiple sclerosis patients treated with natalizumab,

ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 3 2010
Caroline F. Ryschkewitsch MT
JC virus (JCV) DNA in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) provides the laboratory confirmatory diagnosis of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in patients whose clinical symptoms and magnetic resonance imaging findings are consistent with PML. The Laboratory of Molecular Medicine and Neuroscience (LMMN), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), National Institutes of Health (NIH), made the confirmatory laboratory diagnosis in 35 multiple sclerosis (MS) patients treated with natalizumab. Thirteen patients had 3 or more CSF samples taken from weeks to months following PML diagnosis. Seven of the 13 patients demonstrated persistence of JCV DNA in the CSF even though all patients experienced immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome (IRIS), 11 patients had plasma exchange, and 2 had immunoabsorption. Specific anti-JCV antibody was measured in plasma/sera samples from 25 of the 35 patients. Most of the samples showed moderate to high or rising antibody levels from the time of PML diagnosis. However, plasma from 1 patient at or near the time of PML diagnosis had a titer considered seronegative and 2 other plasma samples from patients had titers considered at baseline for seropositivity. In several PML cases, viral persistence and neurological deficits have continued for several years, indicating that once initiated, JCV infection may not entirely clear, even with IRIS. Ann Neurol 2010;68:384,391 [source]


Fulminant JC virus encephalopathy with productive infection of cortical pyramidal neurons,

ANNALS OF NEUROLOGY, Issue 6 2009
Christian Wüthrich PhD
The polyomavirus JC (JCV) is the causative agent of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy and of JCV granule cell neuronopathy. We present a human immunodeficiency virus,negative patient who experienced development of multiple cortical lesions, aphasia, and progressive cognitive decline after chemotherapy for non,small-cell lung cancer. Brain biopsy and cerebrospinal fluid polymerase chain reaction demonstrated JCV, and she had a rapidly fatal outcome. Postmortem analysis showed diffuse cortical lesions and areas of necrosis at the gray,white junction. Immunostaining showed a productive JCV infection of cortical pyramidal neurons, confirmed by electron microscopy, with limited demyelination. This novel gray matter syndrome expands the scope of JCV clinical presentation and pathogenesis. Ann Neurol 2009;65:742,748 [source]