Premium
Detection of TT virus DNA in patients with liver disease and recipients of liver transplant
Author(s) -
Shang D.,
Lin Y.H.,
Rigopoulou I.,
Chen B.,
Alexander G.J.M.,
Allain J.P.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/1096-9071(200008)61:4<455::aid-jmv7>3.0.co;2-p
Subject(s) - liver transplantation , medicine , transplantation , virology , liver disease , cirrhosis , immunosuppression , torque teno virus , genotype , genotyping , hepatitis , blood transfusion , virus , hepatitis c virus , chronic liver disease , viral disease , viral hepatitis , hepatitis c , immunology , gastroenterology , biology , biochemistry , gene
TT virus (TTV) is transfusion‐transmissible but its involvement in post‐transfusion hepatitis is uncertain. To investigate the potential association of TTV with liver diseases, the prevalence of TTV DNA was tested by semi‐nested PCR in 113 carriers of hepatitis C virus (HCV), 10 patients with acute liver failure, 11 patients with cryptogenic cirrhosis and 200 control blood donors. Thirty‐seven of these patients underwent liver transplantation and were tested pre‐ and post‐transplantation. TTV DNA was semi‐quantified in serial samples from seven patients with unexplained post‐transplant hepatitis. TTV genotyping was performed on samples from 28 patients by sequence analysis. The prevalence of TTV DNA in blood donors was 1.5% and 17% in HCV infected haemophiliacs. In patients with acute or chronic liver disease or hepatitis, 6 to 27% prevalence was observed. After liver transplantation, the prevalence of TTV DNA increased from 16 to 46% ( P < 0.01). In patients who developed unexplained hepatitis post‐transplantation, TTV viraemia did not parallel ALT levels. TTV DNA either increased in titre or became detectable shortly after transplantation, suggesting that either TTV was transfusion‐transmitted, or, more likely, that immunosuppression caused a recurrence of low level or undetectable TTV viraemia. TTV had considerable genomic diversity in the N22 region, corresponding to at least 4 genotypes. Genotype 2 was found in 14/28 patients. J. Med. Virol. 61:455–461, 2000. © 2000 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.