Premium
Polyomavirus detection in multiple sclerosis patients under natalizumab therapy: Profile and frequency of urinary shedding
Author(s) -
Nali Luiz Henrique,
Fink Maria Cristina,
do Olival Guilherme S.,
Moraes Lenira,
Callegaro Dagoberto,
Tilbery Charles Peter,
Vidal Jose Ernesto,
Sumita Laura Masami,
de Oliveira Augusto C. Penalva,
Romano Camila M.
Publication year - 2017
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.24646
Subject(s) - natalizumab , progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy , multiple sclerosis , viral shedding , medicine , virology , cidofovir , urinary system , urine , jc virus , antibody , immunology , virus
Patients undergoing Natalizumab (NTZ) therapy are at risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Besides John Cunningham virus (JCV), BK polyomavirus might represent an additional concern for such patients since it can also infect CNS cells. Currently, data regarding the presence of anti‐JCV antibodies added to previous immunosuppressive therapy and prolonged NTZ therapy has been used to classify patients at risk of developing PML. Here, we investigated the profile shedding of JCV and BKV in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients during treatment with NTZ. Serial blood and urine samples from 97 MS patients receiving either NTZ or β‐interferon were investigated for polyomavirus shedding. While all blood samples tested negative, 36% of the patients shed polyomavirus in the urine in at least one time point. From these, 21.7%, 9.3%, and 5.1% shed JCV, BKV, and both polyomavirus, respectively. No difference was observed between the rates of urinary shedding of patients treated with NTZ (38.9%) and patients treated with other drugs (34.5%), also no PML event was diagnosed during the follow‐up. Therefore, urinary shedding might not be interfered by therapy condition. In our study, we also observed 14/27 (52%) of anti‐JCV antibodies prevalence, and nearly half of them (42%) did not present any event of urinary shedding during the follow‐up. J. Med. Virol. 89:528–534, 2017 . © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.