Abstract
During persistent human beta-herpesvirus (HHV) infection, clinical manifestations may not appear. However, the lifelong influence of HHV is often associated with pathological changes in the central nervous system. Herein, we evaluated possible associations between immunoexpression of HHV-6, -7, and cellular immune response across different brain regions. The study aimed to explore HHV-6, -7 infection within the cortical lobes in cases of unspecified encephalopathy (UEP) and nonpathological conditions. We confirmed the presence of viral DNA by nPCR and viral antigens by immunohistochemistry. Overall, we have shown a significant increase (p < 0.001) of HHV antigen expression, especially HHV-7 in the temporal gray matter. Although HHV-infected neurons were found notably in the case of HHV-7, our observations suggest that higher (p < 0.001) cell tropism is associated with glial and endothelial cells in both UEP group and controls. HHV-6, predominantly detected in oligodendrocytes (p < 0.001), and HHV-7, predominantly detected in both astrocytes and oligodendrocytes (p < 0.001), exhibit varying effects on neural homeostasis. This indicates a high number (p < 0.001) of activated microglia observed in the temporal lobe in the UEP group. The question remains of whether human HHV contributes to neurological diseases or are markers for some aspect of the disease process.
Highlights
Both human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) and human herpesvirus-7 (HHV-7) belong to the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily [1,2]
Our results suggest that human beta-herpesvirus (HHV)-6 and -7 may have a role in the brain micro-environment
An alternative possibility is if brain parenchyma is characterized by defects in cellular immunity, it may lead to the persistence of HHV-6 and/or -7 in some kinds of brain cells
Summary
Both human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) and human herpesvirus-7 (HHV-7) belong to the Betaherpesvirinae subfamily [1,2]. The majority of the world’s population is exposed to beta-herpesviruses (HHV) at the time of early childhood. Roseola infantum, which rarely is severe, and infrequently is a fatal illness [3,4]. Human herpesviruses are capable of establishing lifelong persistence by an involvement of different stages of the viral life cycle. Clinical manifestations may frequently not even appear. The putative long term influence is associated with the central nervous system (CNS) diseases such as encephalitis, Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis, and has a role in tumorigenesis and mood disorders [5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16]
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