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1 February 2007

Volume 195, Number 3
The Journal of Infectious Diseases 2007;195:442–449
© 2006 by the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved.
0022-1899/2007/19503-0019$15.00
DOI: 10.1086/510625
MAJOR ARTICLE

A Prospective Longitudinal Study of Polyomavirus Shedding in Lung-Transplant Recipients

Lora D. Thomas,1

Regis A. Vilchez,4,5,a

Zoe S. White,5

Preeti Zanwar,5

Aaron P. Milstone,1,3

Janet S. Butel,5 and

Stephen Dummer1,2,3

Departments of 1Medicine and 2Surgery and 3The Transplant Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee; Departments of 4Medicine and 5Molecular Virology and Microbiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas

Background.  Polyomavirus infection causes renal dysfunction after kidney transplantation, but it has not been thoroughly investigated in nonrenal solid-organ transplantation.

Methods.  Fifty lung-transplant recipients provided prospective urine and blood samples over the course of 17 months. Samples were analyzed for BK virus (BKV), JC virus (JCV), and simian virus 40 (SV40) using conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR), sequence analysis, and quantitative real-time PCR.

Results.  Thirty-one (62%) of 50 patients had polyomavirus detected in at least 1 urine specimen, including 16 (32%) for BKV, 12 (24%) for JCV, and 6 (12%) for SV40. Mean BKV loads (5.0 log10 copies/mL) did not differ from those of JCV (5.7 log10 copies/mL; ), but SV40 loads (2.5 log10 copies/mL) were lower than those of BKV ( ) and JCV ( ). Blood samples were negative. Infection with individual polyomaviruses or polyomavirus infection in aggregate was not associated with reduced creatinine clearance. Patients not shedding polyomavirus had better survival than patients shedding polyomavirus ( ).

Conclusions.  Polyomaviruses BKV and JCV were commonly detected in urine from lung-transplant recipients. SV40 was found in 12% of patients but was shed at a lower frequency and with lower viral loads than the other viruses. Polyomavirus infection was not associated with renal dysfunction.

Received 20 June 2006; accepted 20 September 2006; electronically published 22 December 2006.

Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Stephen Dummer, 911 Oxford House, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN 37232 ().

Cited by

Okan Elidemir, I-Fen Chang, Marc G. Schecter, George B. Mallory. (2007) BK virus-associated hemorrhagic cystitis in a pediatric lung transplant recipient. Pediatric Transplantation 11:7, 807-810
Online publication date: 1-Dec-2007.
CrossRef

  • Potential conflicts of interest: none reported.

    Presented in part: Infectious Diseases Society of America meeting, Boston, MA, 30 September–3 October 2004 (abstract 633).

    Financial support. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (grant 6147-03 to J.S.B. and R.A.V.); National Cancer Institute (grant CA104818 to J.S.B., R.A.V., and S.D.).

  • aPresent affiliation: Department of Virology, Boehringer-Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Ridgefield, Connecticut.

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