High incidence and viral load of HHV-6A in a multi-centre kidney transplant cohort

oleh: Arturo Blazquez-Navarro, Arturo Blazquez-Navarro, Toralf Roch, Toralf Roch, Patrizia Wehler, Patrizia Wehler, Sviatlana Kaliszczyk, Sviatlana Kaliszczyk, Chris Bauer, Constantin Thieme, Kamil S. Rosiewicz, Ulrik Stervbo, Ulrik Stervbo, Moritz Anft, Petra Reinke, Christian Hugo, Panagiota Zgoura, Richard Viebahn, Timm Westhoff, Michal Or-Guil, Nina Babel, Nina Babel

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-06-01

Deskripsi

Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is a common opportunistic pathogen in kidney transplant recipients. Two distinct species of HHV-6, HHV-6A and HHV-6B, have been identified, of which the latter seems to be dominant. However, it is unclear whether they increase the likelihood of other viral reactivations. We characterized a multi-centre cohort of 93 patients along nine study visits for viral load. We tested for the following viruses: HHV-6A and HHV-6B, the herpesviruses cytomegalovirus (CMV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and the polyomavirus BK (BKV). We detected HHV-6A viral load in 48 (51.6%) patients, while the incidence of HHV-6B was much lower, being detected in 6 (6.5%) patients. The incidence of HHV-6A was higher than of BKV, CMV and EBV. HHV-6A also demonstrated higher viral loads than the rest of viruses. There was a non-significant trend of association between HHV-6A and HHV-6B as co-infection, whereas no increased incidence of other viruses among patients with HHV-6A reactivation was observed. There was no negative effect of high HHV-6A (>10,000 copies/ml) load on markers of renal graft and hepatic function or blood count twelve months post-transplant. In contrast to previously published data, our results show a clear dominance of HHV-6A in peripheral blood when compared to HHV-6B, with higher incidence and viral load levels. Despite the high HHV-6A loads observed, we did not identify any negative effects on posttransplant outcome.