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Epstein‐Barr virus latent gene EBNA‐1 genetic diversity among transplant patients compared with patients with infectious mononucleosis
Author(s) -
Sullivan Katie,
Isabel Sandra,
KhodaiBooran Nasser,
Paton Tara A.,
Abdulnoor Mariana,
Dipchand Anne I.,
Hébert Diane,
Ng Vicky L.,
Allen Upton D.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
clinical transplantation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.918
H-Index - 76
eISSN - 1399-0012
pISSN - 0902-0063
DOI - 10.1111/ctr.13504
Subject(s) - mononucleosis , medicine , genetic diversity , epstein–barr virus , strain (injury) , virus , immunology , virology , population , environmental health
As a step toward evaluating the association between Epstein‐Barr virus genetic diversity and post‐transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD), we conducted a preliminary study to compare the genetic diversity of the EBNA‐1 gene among transplant patients and patients with infectious mononucleosis (IM). Methods We sequenced the EBNA‐1 gene in blood samples from study subjects using Sanger methodology. The sequences were aligned with a reference strain and compared with publicly available sequences. Results We analyzed 33 study samples and 25 publicly available sequences along with the reference strain B95‐8. The evaluable samples were from sixteen patients with IM (median age 14.0 years, range 2‐24) and 17 transplant patients. There were six children without PTLD (median age 1.93 years, range 0.79‐7.46) and 11 who developed PTLD (median age 5.67 years, range 0.96‐17.45). A predominant EBNA‐1 variant (P‐thr) was identified across the study groups. Differences were observed between the samples from the IM patients compared with the transplant samples. Conclusion The predominant EBNA‐1 strain is in contrast to reports of the predominant strain in North America. The results suggest differences between the EBNA‐1 strains among the study groups. Further studies will examine the relationship between EBNA‐1 strains and PTLD occurrence and outcomes.