Premium
Antiviral effect of human saliva against hantavirus
Author(s) -
Hardestam Jonas,
Petterson Lisa,
Ahlm Clas,
Evander Magnus,
Lundkvist Åke,
Klingström Jonas
Publication year - 2008
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.21332
Subject(s) - hantavirus , saliva , virology , biology , hantaan virus , puumala virus , infectivity , lactoferrin , bunyaviridae , viral replication , virus , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , genetics
Hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome are zoonotic diseases caused by rodent borne hantaviruses. Transmission to humans occurs usually by inhalation of aerozolized virus‐contaminated rodent excreta. Although human‐to‐human transmission of Andes hantavirus has been observed, the mode of transmission is currently not known. Saliva from Puumala hantavirus (PUUV)‐infected patients was shown recently to contain viral RNA. To test if human saliva interferes with hantavirus replication, the effect of saliva and salivary proteins on hantavirus replication was studied. It was observed that saliva from healthy individuals reduced Hantaan hantavirus (HTNV) infectivity, although not completely. Furthermore, HTNV was resistant against the antiviral capacity of histatin 5, lysozyme, lactoferrin, and SLPI, but was inhibited by mucin. Inoculation of bank voles ( Myodes glareolus ) with HFRS‐patient saliva, positive for PUUV‐RNA, did not induce sero‐conversion. In conclusion, no evidence of infectious virus in patient saliva was found. However, the in vitro experiments showed that HTNV, the prototype hantavirus, is insensitive to several antiviral salivary proteins, and is partly resistant to the antiviral effect of saliva. It therefore remains to be shown if human saliva might contain infectious virions early during infection, that is, before seroconversion. J. Med. Virol. 80:2122–2126, 2008. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.