Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes (URMITE), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Unité Mixte de Recherche (UMR) 6236-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) 3R198, Facultés de Médecine et de Pharmacie, Université de la Méditerranée, Marseille, France.
PLoS One. 2010 Apr 6;5(4):e10041. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010041.
Recently, metagenomic studies have identified viable Pepper mild mottle virus (PMMoV), a plant virus, in the stool of healthy subjects. However, its source and role as pathogen have not been determined.
21 commercialized food products containing peppers, 357 stool samples from 304 adults and 208 stool samples from 137 children were tested for PMMoV using real-time PCR, sequencing, and electron microscopy. Anti-PMMoV IgM antibody testing was concurrently performed. A case-control study tested the association of biological and clinical symptoms with the presence of PMMoV in the stool. Twelve (57%) food products were positive for PMMoV RNA sequencing. Stool samples from twenty-two (7.2%) adults and one child (0.7%) were positive for PMMoV by real-time PCR. Positive cases were significantly more likely to have been sampled in Dermatology Units (p<10(-6)), to be seropositive for anti-PMMoV IgM antibodies (p = 0.026) and to be patients who exhibited fever, abdominal pains, and pruritus (p = 0.045, 0.038 and 0.046, respectively).
Our study identified a local source of PMMoV and linked the presence of PMMoV RNA in stool with a specific immune response and clinical symptoms. Although clinical symptoms may be imputable to another cofactor, including spicy food, our data suggest the possibility of a direct or indirect pathogenic role of plant viruses in humans.
最近，宏基因组研究在健康受试者的粪便中发现了有活力的辣椒轻斑驳病毒（PMMoV），一种植物病毒。然而，其来源和病原体作用尚未确定。
使用实时 PCR、测序和电子显微镜对 21 种含辣椒的商业化食品产品、304 名成年人的 357 份粪便样本和 137 名儿童的 208 份粪便样本进行了 PMMoV 检测。同时进行了抗 PMMoV IgM 抗体检测。病例对照研究测试了粪便中 PMMoV 的存在与生物和临床症状之间的关联。12 种（57%）食品产品的 PMMoV RNA 测序呈阳性。22 名成年人（7.2%）和 1 名儿童（0.7%）的粪便样本通过实时 PCR 检测呈 PMMoV 阳性。阳性病例更有可能在皮肤科就诊（p<10(-6)），抗 PMMoV IgM 抗体呈阳性（p = 0.026），并表现出发热、腹痛和瘙痒（p = 0.045、0.038 和 0.046）。
我们的研究确定了 PMMoV 的本地来源，并将粪便中 PMMoV RNA 的存在与特定的免疫反应和临床症状联系起来。尽管临床症状可能归因于另一个共同因素，包括辛辣食物，但我们的数据表明植物病毒在人类中可能具有直接或间接的致病作用。
