Document Type

Theses, Masters

Rights

Available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share Alike 4.0 International Licence

Disciplines

Biology

Publication Details

Sucessfully submitted for the award of Master of Philosophy (M.Phil) to the Technological University Dublin, 2008.

Abstract

BK virus (BKV) and JC virus (JCV) are ubiquitous in the human population and frequently reactivate during periods of immune suppression. The emergence of polyomavirus-associated diseases among renal and hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients has highlighted the lack of knowledge of the natural history of BKV and JCV in humans. In the pediatric population, in particular, immune suppressive therapy is commonly used as a treatment for primary renal diseases. To date, there has been limited investigation of polyomavirus reactivation in pediatric patients with renal transplants or with primary renal disease. Given the association of polyomavirus reactivation with the use of immune suppressive therapies, we sought to investigate whether polyomavirus reactivation occurred in pediatric patients with kidney disease. We found that polyomavirus reactivation in the urinary tract was more common after renal transplantation than among subjects with nephrotic syndrome. BKV viral loads in urine were ~10-15 times higher among renal transplant recipients than in patients with nephrotic syndrome, while the converse was true for JCV. The prevalence of BKV viruria at our institution is consistent with published data on BKV reactivation after pediatric renal transplantation.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21427/D74S58

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