Serological evidence of an early seroconversion to Simian virus 40 in healthy children and adolescents

At present Simian virus 40 (SV40) infection in humans appears to be transmitted independently from early contaminated vaccines. In order to test the spread of SV40 infection in children, an immunologic assay employing specific SV40 synthetic peptides corresponding to its viral protein (VP) antigens...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2013-04, Vol.8 (4), p.e61182-e61182
Main Authors: Taronna, Angelo, Mazzoni, Elisa, Corallini, Alfredo, Bononi, Ilaria, Pietrobon, Silvia, Guerra, Giovanni, Palmonari, Caterina, Borgna-Pignatti, Caterina, Comar, Manola, Bovenzi, Massimo, Casali, Ferruccio, Marci, Roberto, Rezza, Giovanni, Barbanti-Brodano, Giuseppe, Tognon, Mauro, Martini, Fernanda
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adolescents
Age
Analysis
Antibodies
Antibodies, Viral - blood
Antibodies, Viral - immunology
Antigens
Antiviral agents
Biology
Capsid protein
Capsid Proteins - chemistry
Child
Child, Preschool
Children
Contamination
Early Diagnosis
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay
Enzymes
Epitopes - immunology
Female
Health
Humans
Immunization
Immunoassays
Immunoglobulin G
Immunoglobulin M
Immunoglobulin M - blood
Immunoglobulin M - immunology
Infant
Infant, Newborn
Infants
Infection
Infections
Laboratories
Male
Medicine
Monkeys
Peptide Fragments - immunology
Peptides
Polyomavirus Infections - blood
Polyomavirus Infections - diagnosis
Seroconversion
Serologic Tests
Simian virus 40 - immunology
Simian virus 40 - physiology
Studies
Synthetic peptides
Teenagers
Tumor Virus Infections - blood
Tumor Virus Infections - diagnosis
Vaccines
Vice presidents (Organizations)
Viral proteins
Viruses
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Items that cite this one
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Description
Summary:At present Simian virus 40 (SV40) infection in humans appears to be transmitted independently from early contaminated vaccines. In order to test the spread of SV40 infection in children, an immunologic assay employing specific SV40 synthetic peptides corresponding to its viral protein (VP) antigens was employed to estimate the seroprevalence of this polyomavirus in Italian infants and adolescents. Serum samples from 328 children and adolescents, up to 17 years, were investigated. Serum antibodies against SV40 VPs were detected by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. The seroprevalence of this polyomavirus was calculated after stratifying the subjects by age. Anti-viral capsid protein 1-2-3 SV40 IgG antibodies were detected in 16% of the study participants. The prevalence of antibodies against SV40 VPs tended to increase with age in children, up to 10 year old (21%). Then, in the cohort of individuals aged 11-17 years, the prevalence decreased (16%). A higher prevalence rate (23%) of SV40 VP antibodies was detected in the cohorts of 1-3 year and 7-10 year old children, than in children and adolescents of the other age groups. This age corresponds to children starting nursery and primary school, respectively, in Italy. IgM antibodies against SV40 VP mimotopes were detected in 6-8 month old children suggesting that SV40 seroconversion can occur early in life. SV40 VP antibodies are present at low prevalence in Italian children (16%), suggesting that SV40 infection, although acquired early in life, probably through different routes, is not widespread. The low SV40 seroprevalence suggests that SV40 is less transmissible than other common polyomaviruses, such as BKV and JCV. Alternatively, our immunologic data could be due to another, as yet undiscovered, human polyomavirus closely related to SV40.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0061182