DETECTION AND SEQUENCE-ANALYSIS OF BORNA-DISEASE VIRUS P24 RNA FROM PERIPHERAL-BLOOD MONONUCLEAR-CELLS OF PATIENTS WITH MOOD DISORDERS OR SCHIZOPHRENIA AND OF BLOOD-DONORS

Borna disease virus (BDV) p24 RNA was detected in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of psychiatric patients and blood donors by nested reverse transcriptase PCR (RT-PCR). The prevalences of BDV p24 RNA in patients with mood disorders (4%) and schizophrenia (4%) were not significantly different from that in blood donors (2%). This findi ng was inconsistent with previous reports that showed either a high pr evalence or absence of BDV p24 RNA in patients with psychiatric disord ers. The differences in BDV p24 RNA prevalence in these studies may be due to differences in the criteria for positivity, the number of PBMC s used for RNA extraction, or the amount of RNA tested for nested RT-P CR or to laboratory contamination. Sequence analysis of BDV p24 RNA fr om the PBMCs of patients and blood donors showed a high nucleotide seq uence conservation but definite nucleotide mutations compared with hor se BDV p24 RNA sequences. In comparison with human BDV p24 RNA sequenc es previously reported from Japan and Germany, there were several posi tions with silent nucleotide mutations among these clones.