Transfusion-transmitted virus infection in HIV-1-seropositive patients

Objectives To investigate the prevalence, persistence and genome heterogene ity of transfusion-transmitted (TTV) in HIV-1-infected patients, a group at high risk both of contracting blood-borne viruses and having viral persist ence relating to immunodepression. Methods Plasma samples from 238 HIV-1 seropositive subjects and 226 healthy blood donors were examined for TTV-DNA both by polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) using primers from the conserved regions in the N22 clone and PCR usin g primers deduced from the untranslated region (UTR), Direct DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were used to characterize 27 TTV isolates from H IV-1 patients or healthy controls. Results Using PCR with the UTR primer, TTV DNA was detected in a very high percentage (> 80%) of samples both from HIV-1 seropositive subjects and fro m blood donors. Using PCR with N22 primers, shown to detect viral strains a ssociated with hepatitis of unknown etiology, TTV DNA was found in 103 of 2 38 (43.3%) HIV-1-infected patients and in 22 of 226 (9.7%) blood donors. Th ere was no difference in the prevalence of the TTV DNA in HIV seropositive subjects with regard to clinical features related to immunosuppression, mar kers of HCV infection or intravenous drug use; presence of TTV DNA was asso ciated significantly only with male gender (P = 0.003). Persistent or inter mittent viremia was detected in plasma samples taken up over a period of 19 months in all (15 of 15) HIV-infected patients tested. Conclusions The persistence and high frequency of infection detected by PCR with N22 primers in HIV-1 seropositive patients suggest that further clini cal investigation of immunocompromised hosts will provide information to cl arify the pathogenic role of TTV.