Relationship between human cytomegalovirus infection and biliary atresia

Abstract

Objective To establish the infection rates of hepatotropic DNA viruses in the liver tissues of biliary atresia patients.Methods Fluorescent quantitative PCR (FQ-PCR)was used to assess 5 viruses,including human cytomegalovirus(HCMV),adenovirus (ADV),EB virus (EBV),herpes simplex virus (HSV)and hepatitis B virus (HBV)in 85 biliarty atresia patients and 10 controls.Immunohistochemistry was carried out to assess the cytomegalovirus late proteins PP65 in paraffin sections.Results The fluorescence quantitative PCR result shows that among 85 patients,56(65.8%)were found to be positive for hepatotropic DNA virus.HCMV,ADV,EBV,HSV and HBV accounted for 51(60%),5(5.9%),3(3.5%),0(0%),and 0(0%)of the cases respectively.The biopsies of 3 patients were tested positive for two viruses simultaneously.They include two cases of HCMV in combination with ADV and one case of,ADV in combination with EBV.In the control group,virus detection was negative.Moreover,PP65 was located in the cytoplasm of infected cells such as liver cells,vascular endothelial cells,bile duct epithelial cells and inflammatory infiltrating cells.Conclusions Hepatotropic DNA viruses detection are associated with biliary atresia.Human cytomegalovirus has the strongest association with biliary atresia. Key words: Biliary atresia; Hepadnaviridae; Immunohistochemistry