Abstract
Polyomaviruses infect many species, including humans. So far, 15 polyomaviruses have been described in humans, but it remains to be established whether all of these are genuine human polyomaviruses. The most recent polyomavirus to be detected in a person is Quebec polyomavirus (QPyV), which was identified in a metagenomic analysis of a stool sample from an 85-year-old hospitalized man. We used PCR to investigate the presence of QPyV DNA in urine samples from systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients (67 patients; 135 samples), multiple sclerosis patients (n = 35), HIV-positive patients (n = 66) and pregnant women (n = 65). Moreover, cerebrospinal fluid from patients with suspected neurological diseases (n = 63), nasopharyngeal aspirates from patients (n = 80) with respiratory symptoms and plasma samples from HIV-positive patients (n = 65) were examined. QPyV DNA was found in urine from 11 (16.4%), 10 (15.4%) and 5 (14.3%) SLE patients, pregnant women, and multiple sclerosis patients, respectively. No QPyV DNA could be detected in the other samples. Alignment with the only available QPyV sequence in the GenBank revealed amino acid substitutions in the HI-loop of capsid protein VP1 in 6/28 of the isolates. Our results show that QPyV viruria can occur, but whether it may cause clinical symptoms in the patients remains to be determined.
Highlights
Our results show that Quebec polyomavirus (QPyV) sequences could be detected in the urine of systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) patients, multiple sclerosis (MS) patients and pregnant women, but not in any of the other samples tested
Positive PCR products were cloned by TA cloning (TOPO TA cloning kit Life Technologies, Carlsbad, CA, USA; cat. no. 45-0641) and the ligation mix was transformed in competent E. coli DH5 cells
QPyV was originally identified as a sequence in a metagenomic analysis of a stool sample from an 85-year-old hospitalized man [38], but the presence of this virus in other individuals has not been studied
Summary
Archival urine samples from five anonymous SLE patients (SLE1–5) from Stavanger (Norway) were used. Sixty-five single archival urine specimens from healthy women who were 18–39 weeks pregnant, collected at the university hospital of Northern Norway, have been described previously [39]. Sixty-three archival cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) specimens from patients with suspected neurological complications were tested These samples were anonymized, and no personal or clinical data of the patients were available. Patients signed informed consent forms based on the approval of the Ethic Committee of Policlinico Umberto I of Rome (protocol number 130/13). The study was approved by the local Ethic Committee of the University Hospital Tor Vergata (Rome, Italy) (protocol number 0027234/2018, 19 December 2018), and patients’ informed consent was ascertained
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