Dubois VL, Lafon ME, Ragnaud JM, Pellegrin JL, Fleury HJ; International Conference on AIDS.
Int Conf AIDS. 1996 Jul 7-12; 11: 262 (abstract no. Th.A.4054).
Laboratoire de Virologie, CHU Pellegrin, Bordeaux, France. Fax: 33.56.79.56.73.
Objectives: To determine whether the opportunistic JC Virus (JCV) productively infects peripheral blood leukocytes in HIV-infected persons. JCV induces progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) in 3% of AIDS patients. However, the pathophysiology of JCV reactivation in immunosuppressed persons is still controversial. It was suggested that lymphocytes may be JCV conveyors to the central nervous system. In agreement with this hypothesis, we were recently able to detect JCV DNA in the leukocytes of about 30% of 135 HIV-infected persons (Dubois V, AIDS, in press). Methods: Two different PCR techniques were used, one allowing the amplification and hybridization of JCV DNA in the early T gene, and the other the nested amplification of JCV DNA in the late capsid-coding VP1 gene. Furthermore, a reverse-transcription-PCR procedure was developped to detect mRNAs to VP1 gene, in order to ascertain JCV multiplication. The efficiency of mRNA detection was proven in the CSF of 3 PML patients, in which the three procedures were positive at the same time. These methods were applied to the peripheral blood leukocytes of 73 HIV-positive patients at all stages, without PML. Results: JCV DNA was detected in the leukocytes respectively in 45% and 41% of the 73 HIV-infected patients, using the T and VP1 amplification procedures. For 10 of these patients, successive leukocyte samples were available: in 6 cases, JCV DNA was detected only intermittently, which may account for the initial underestimation of JCV positivity in leukocytes. The presence of JCV mRNAs was investigated in 20 of the 30 VP1 DNA-positive patients: surprisingly, JCV mRNA was never detectable in the peripheral blood. Conclusions: We confirm that JCV DNA is present in the peripheral blood of a large proportion of HIV-infected persons, whatever their clinical and biological stage. However, since JCV mRNAs are absent, our preliminary results suggest that JCV reactivation could take place elsewhere than in peripheral blood leukocytes. A better understanding of this topic could help in defining new preventive or therapeutic approaches against PML.
Publication Types:
Keywords:
- AIDS Vaccines
- Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
- Capsid
- Capsid Proteins
- HIV Infections
- HIV Seropositivity
- Humans
- JC Virus
- Leukocytes
- Leukoencephalopathy, Progressive Multifocal
- Nucleic Acid Hybridization
- Polymerase Chain Reaction
- RNA, Messenger
Other ID:
UI: 102220362
From Meeting Abstracts