Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a severely debilitating and often fatal demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) in immunosuppressed individuals caused by JC polyomavirus (JCV), a ubiquitous human pathogen. Demyelination results from lytically infected oligodendrocytes, whose clearance is impaired in the setting of depressed JCV-specific T cell-mediated CNS ...

Traditionally, the Hirt extraction method, a multi-step, labor-intensive and time-consuming procedure, is employed to extract selectively low-molecular weight DNA for polyomavirus DNA replication analyses. DNA replication results obtained with this approach are often inconsistent between replicate samples. To increase the efficiency and reproducibility of the polyomavirus DNA replication assay,...

2. Gaynor AM, Nissen MD, Whiley DM, Mackay IM, Lambert SB, Wu G, et al. Identifi cation of a novel polyomavirus from patients with acute respiratory tract infections. PLoS Pathog. 2007;3:e64. http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat. 0030064 3. Kumar D. Emerging viruses in transplantation. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2010;23:374– 8. 4. Neske F, Prifert C, Scheiner B, Ewald M, Schubert J, Opitz A, et al...

Mice of the PERA/Ei strain (PE mice) are highly susceptible to tumor induction by polyomavirus and transmit their susceptibility in a dominant manner in crosses with resistant C57BR/cdJ mice (BR mice). BR mice respond to polyomavirus infection with a type 1 cytokine response and develop effective cell-mediated immunity to the virus-induced tumors. By enumerating virus-specific CD8(+) T cells an...

Viral infections have been a subject of great interest in patients after organ transplantations. Post-transplant immunosuppressive therapy is often associated with transfenction or reactivation of viruses. The human polyomavirus type I, also called BKvirus (BKV), causes polyomavirus-associated nephropathy (PVAN) in 1-10% of renal transplant recipients. Thanks to increased PVAN awareness and imp...

1. Gaynor AM, Nissen MD, Whiley DM, Mackay IM, Lambert SB, Wu G, et al. Identifi cation of a novel polyomavirus from patients with acute respiratory tract infections. PLoS Pathog. 2007;3:e64. DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.0030064 2. Allander T, Andreasson K, Gupta S, Bjerkner A, Bogdanovic G, Persson MA, et al. Identifi cation of a third human polyomavirus. J Virol. 2007;81:4130–6. DOI: 10.1128/JVI...

BACKGROUND Immunosuppression due to pregnancy may lead to higher susceptibility to infections and reactivation of latent infections, such as BK polyomavirus (BKPyV). There is lack of information about the prevalence of novel human polyomavirus 9 (HPyV9), WU (WUPyV) and KI (KIPyV) during pregnancy. OBJECTIVES To study whether pregnancy results in higher prevalence of HPyV9, WUPyV, KIPyV and th...

Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) is linked to a cutaneous cancer mainly occurring in Caucasians. DNA from skin swabs of 255 adults, originating from the 5 continents, were subjected to MCPyV PCRs. Phylogenetic analyses demonstrate the existence of 5 major geographically related MCPyV genotypes (Europe/North America, Africa [sub-Saharan], Oceania, South America, and Asia/Japan).