S. Tanaka et al., DETECTION OF ACTIVE CYTOMEGALOVIRUS-INFECTION IN INFLAMMATORY AORTIC-ANEURYSMS WITH RNA-POLYMERASE CHAIN-REACTION, Journal of vascular surgery, 20(2), 1994, pp. 235-243
Purpose: We previously reported the possible role of human cytomegalov
irus in the pathogenesis of inflammatory aortic diseases. To further a
nalyze the viral cause of human aortic diseases, in this study we exam
ined the presence and the replication of human Herpesviridae in 60 aor
tic tissues, including 7 inflammatory aneurysms, 37 atherosclerotic an
eurysms, and 16 normal aortas. Methods: To detect the genome of herpes
simplex virus (type 1, type 2), cytomegalovirus, and Epstein-Barr vir
us, DNA polymerase chain reaction for each virus was performed. To ana
lyze these herpesviral replications, the viral transcript was detected
with RNA polymerase chain reaction. Results: The DNA polymerase chain
reaction showed that either herpes simplex virus or cytomegalovirus w
as present more frequently in inflammatory (29% or 86%, respectively)
and atherosclerotic aneurysms (27% or 65%, respectively) than in norma
l aortic tissues (6% or 31%, respectively), whereas the Epstein-Barr v
iral genome was not detected in any aortic tissue specimens. By the us
e of RNA polymerase chain reaction, only the cytomegaloviral transcrip
t was recognized in 71% of the inflammatory aneurysms but was not reco
gnized in any other tissue specimens. No other herpesviral transcripts
were detected in any tissue specimens examined in this study. Conclus
ions: Our results thus suggest that the human herpesviruses may play v
arious roles in the pathogenicity of aortic diseases, in particular th
e replicating infections of the cytomegalovirus might potentially caus
e the formation of inflammatory aneurysms.