TY - JOUR
T1 - Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy and persistent viral infection
T2 - Lack of association in a controlled study using a quantitative assay
AU - Moimas, Silvia
AU - Zacchigna, Serena
AU - Merlo, Marco
AU - Buiatti, Alessandra
AU - Anzini, Marco
AU - Dreas, Lorella
AU - Salvi, Alessandro
AU - Di Lenarda, Andrea
AU - Giacca, Mauro
AU - Sinagra, Gianfranco
PY - 2012/12/1
Y1 - 2012/12/1
N2 - Background: It remains unclear whether idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) might ensue as the consequence of viral myocarditis, due to viral persistence in cardiomyocytes. To address this issue, we quantified the levels of enterovirus, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Herpes Simplex Virus-1 (HSV-1), Herpes Simplex Virus-2 (HSV-2), adenovirus and parvovirus B19 genomes in endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs) from patients with DCM, active myocarditis and controls. Methods: Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods using TaqMan probes were developed for the quantitative detection of viral genomes in EMBs from 35 patients with DCM and 17 with active myocarditis. A control group included 20 surgical patients with valve or coronary artery disease. Results: None of the 72 samples tested positive for enteroviruses, EBV, HSV-1 or -2. One DCM patient tested positive for adenovirus. Of notice, 20/52 (38%) of patients with cardiomyopathy and 8/20 (40%) of controls were positive for parvovirus B19; no significant differences in viral titre were detected between groups. Conclusions: Our preliminary results disfavour the hypothesis that persistent myocardial viral infection might be a frequent cause of DCM. The detection of parvovirus B19 from both cardiomyopathy and non-cardiomyopathy patients supports the notion that this virus is widely spread in the population.
AB - Background: It remains unclear whether idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) might ensue as the consequence of viral myocarditis, due to viral persistence in cardiomyocytes. To address this issue, we quantified the levels of enterovirus, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), Herpes Simplex Virus-1 (HSV-1), Herpes Simplex Virus-2 (HSV-2), adenovirus and parvovirus B19 genomes in endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs) from patients with DCM, active myocarditis and controls. Methods: Real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods using TaqMan probes were developed for the quantitative detection of viral genomes in EMBs from 35 patients with DCM and 17 with active myocarditis. A control group included 20 surgical patients with valve or coronary artery disease. Results: None of the 72 samples tested positive for enteroviruses, EBV, HSV-1 or -2. One DCM patient tested positive for adenovirus. Of notice, 20/52 (38%) of patients with cardiomyopathy and 8/20 (40%) of controls were positive for parvovirus B19; no significant differences in viral titre were detected between groups. Conclusions: Our preliminary results disfavour the hypothesis that persistent myocardial viral infection might be a frequent cause of DCM. The detection of parvovirus B19 from both cardiomyopathy and non-cardiomyopathy patients supports the notion that this virus is widely spread in the population.
KW - Dilated cardiomyopathy
KW - Parvovirus B19
KW - Real-time PCR
KW - Virus persistence
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84870416515&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.hlc.2012.07.013
DO - 10.1016/j.hlc.2012.07.013
M3 - Article
C2 - 22901461
AN - SCOPUS:84870416515
SN - 1443-9506
VL - 21
SP - 787
EP - 793
JO - Heart Lung and Circulation
JF - Heart Lung and Circulation
IS - 12
ER -