Integrity and full coding sequence of B19 virus DNA persisting in human synovial tissue

Primary infection by human parvovirus B19 is often accompanied by arthropat hy of varying duration, of which the most severe cases can be indistinguish able from rheumatoid arthritis (RA), While this might seem to imply a role in PA pathogenesis, recent studies have verified long-term persistence of B 19 DNA in synovial tissue not only in patients with rheumatoid or juvenile arthritis, but also in immunocompetent, non-arthritic individuals with a hi story of prior B19 infection. However, the latter data are based on PCR amp lification of short segments of DNA, with little sequence information. We d etermined the nucleotide sequence and examined the integrity of the protein -coding regions of B19 genomes persisting in synovial tissue and compared t he results with data from synovial tissues of recently infected patients. I n synovium of both previously and recently infected subjects, the viral cod ing regions were found to be present in an apparently continuous, intact DN A molecule. Comparison with sequences reported from blood or bone marrow sh owed that the synoviotropism or persistence of the B19 virus DNA was not du e to exceptional mutations or particular genotype variants. The synovial re tention of full-length viral genomes may represent a physiological process functioning in long-term storage of foreign macromolecules in this tissue.