Browsing by Author "Prusty, Bhupesh K."

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    Chronic viral infections in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)
    (2018) Rasa, Santa; Nora-Krukle, Zaiga; Henning, Nina; Eliassen, Eva; Shikova, Evelina; Harrer, Thomas; Scheibenbogen, Carmen; Murovska, Modra; Prusty, Bhupesh K.; The European Network on ME/CFS (EUROMENE)
    Background and main text Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex and controversial clinical condition without having established causative factors. Increasing numbers of cases during past decade have created awareness among patients as well as healthcare professionals. Chronic viral infection as a cause of ME/CFS has long been debated. However, lack of large studies involving well-designed patient groups and validated experimental set ups have hindered our knowledge about this disease. Moreover, recent developments regarding molecular mechanism of pathogenesis of various infectious agents cast doubts over validity of several of the past studies. Conclusions This review aims to compile all the studies done so far to investigate various viral agents that could be associated with ME/CFS. Furthermore, we suggest strategies to better design future studies on the role of viral infections in ME/CFS.
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    Chronic viral infections in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)
    (2018-10-01) Rasa, Santa; Nora-Krukle, Zaiga; Henning, Nina; Eliassen, Eva; Shikova, Evelina; Harrer, Thomas; Scheibenbogen, Carmen; Murovska, Modra; Prusty, Bhupesh K.; Institute of Microbiology and Virology
    Background and main text: Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex and controversial clinical condition without having established causative factors. Increasing numbers of cases during past decade have created awareness among patients as well as healthcare professionals. Chronic viral infection as a cause of ME/CFS has long been debated. However, lack of large studies involving well-designed patient groups and validated experimental set ups have hindered our knowledge about this disease. Moreover, recent developments regarding molecular mechanism of pathogenesis of various infectious agents cast doubts over validity of several of the past studies. Conclusions: This review aims to compile all the studies done so far to investigate various viral agents that could be associated with ME/CFS. Furthermore, we suggest strategies to better design future studies on the role of viral infections in ME/CFS.
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    Possible chromosomal and germline integration of human herpesvirus 7
    (2017-02) Prusty, Bhupesh K.; Gulve, Nitish; Rasa, Santa; Murovska, Modra; Hernandez, Pilar Collado; Ablashi, Dharam V.; Institute of Microbiology and Virology
    Human herpesvirus 7 (HHV-7) is a betaherpesvirus, and is phylogenetically related to both HHV-6A and HHV-6B. The presence of telomeric repeat sequences at both ends of its genome should make it equally likely to integrate into the human telomere as HHV-6. However, numerous studies have failed to detect germline integration of HHV-7, suggesting an important difference between the HHV-6A/-6B and HHV-7 genomes. In search of possible germline integrated HHV-7, we developed a sensitive and quantitative real-time PCR assay and discovered that primers designed against some parts of the HHV-7 genome can frequently miss HHV-7 positive clinical samples even though they work efficiently in cell-culture-derived HHV-7 positive materials. Using a primer pair against the U90 ORF of HHV-7, we identified a possible case of germline integration of HHV-7 with one copy of viral genome per cell in both peripheral blood cells and hair follicles. Chromosomal integration of HHV-7 in these individuals was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis. Germline integration of HHV-7 was further confirmed by detection of ~2.6 copies of HHV-7 in the hair follicles of one of the parents. Our results shed light on the complex nature of the HHV-7 genome in human-derived materials in comparison to cell-culture-derived materials and show the need for stringent criteria in the selection of primers for epidemiological HHV-7 studies.