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A regulatory region rearranged BK virus is associated with tubulointerstitial nephritis in a rejected renal allograft
Author(s) -
Chen ChenHsu,
Wen MeiChin,
Wang Meilin,
Lian JongDa,
Wu MingJu,
Cheng ChiHung,
Shu KuoHsiung,
Chang Deching
Publication year - 2001
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/jmv.1021
Subject(s) - bk virus , nephritis , polyomavirus infections , virus , interstitial nephritis , biology , renal biopsy , virology , kidney , pathology , medicine , immunology , kidney transplantation , genetics
A renal allograft transplant patient with high serum creatinine presented clinical symptoms of rejection. Sections of renal biopsy tissue showed mononuclear leukocyte infiltration in the tubulointerstitium and nuclear enlargement with inclusions in the tubular epithelium. The morphological characteristics resembled polyomavirus‐induced interstitial nephritis. Electron microscopy of the nuclear inclusions showed paracrystalline arrays of naked viral particles with a diameter of 45 nm. Molecular studies revealed that a new variant of BK virus (BKV) with rearrangement at the regulatory region was involved in the nephritis. The BKV regulatory region contained a tandem repeat from the P‐block to the Q‐block causing duplication of several important transcriptional elements or transcriptional factor binding motifs. This is the first report to show a naturally occurring BKV variant with regulatory region rearrangement associated with tubulointerstitial nephritis. J. Med. Virol. 64:82–88, 2001. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.