Yücebağ-Duranay Ebru, Kocazeybek Bekir Sami, Kuşkucu Mert Ahmet
Department of Medical Microbiology, İstanbul University- Cerrahpaşa, Cerrahpaşa School of Medicine, İstanbul, Türkiye.
Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, İstanbul University- Cerrahpaşa, Faculty of Pharmacy, İstanbul, Türkiye.
Infect Dis Clin Microbiol. 2025 Mar 27;6(3):77-87. doi: 10.36519/idcm.2025.497. eCollection 2025 Mar.
Human pegiviruses (HPgV) belong to the family. They were initially considered hepatotropic viruses, but later, epidemiological studies showed no connection with acute or chronic hepatitis. This study included frozen and stored plasma samples of HIV-infected, ART-naive patients, which were routinely sent to Cerrahpasa Faculty of Medicine, Molecular Microbiology Laboratory for HIV RNA detection and HIV drug resistance analysis between January and September 2019.
The study analyzed plasma samples of HIV-infected, antiretroviral therapy-naive patients and control serum samples. HPgV RNA in the samples was investigated using the RT-nested PCR method, and primer sets designed from the 5'UTR region were used for amplification and genotyping using Sanger sequencing.
A total of 117 plasma samples from HIV-infected, antiretroviral therapy-naive patients and 100 control serum samples were included in the study. HPgV-1 RNA was detected in 24.78% of the patient group and 18% of the control group (=0.2264). HPgV-2 RNA was not detected in any groups. Phylogenetic analysis showed that all HPgV-1 strains isolated were genotype 2; the subgroup was commonly 2a (95.56%). Only two of the 29 strains belonging to the patient group were subtype 2b (4.44%). There was no statistically significant difference between HPgV-1 infected and uninfected HIV-1-positive subjects regarding the HIV-1 viral loads. HPgV-1 positivity rates were higher in those aged <40 years (25.80%) than in those aged ≥40 years (16.12%) ( =0.00044).
Genotype 2a was identified as the dominant genotype, and this finding is consistent with previous studies reported from Türkiye and other countries in the same geographical region. Further studies are needed to understand better the effects of the HPgV-1 virus on HIV infection.
人pegivirus病毒（HPgV）属于该病毒家族。它们最初被认为是嗜肝病毒，但后来的流行病学研究表明其与急性或慢性肝炎并无关联。本研究纳入了未接受抗逆转录病毒治疗（ART）的HIV感染患者的冷冻血浆样本，这些样本于2019年1月至9月期间被常规送往切拉帕萨医学院分子微生物学实验室进行HIV RNA检测和HIV耐药性分析。
本研究分析了未接受抗逆转录病毒治疗的HIV感染患者的血浆样本以及对照血清样本。使用逆转录巢式PCR方法检测样本中的HPgV RNA，并使用从5'非翻译区（UTR）区域设计的引物对进行扩增，通过桑格测序进行基因分型。
本研究共纳入了117份未接受抗逆转录病毒治疗的HIV感染患者的血浆样本和100份对照血清样本。患者组中24.78%检测到HPgV - 1 RNA，对照组中18%检测到HPgV - 1 RNA（P = 0.2264）。在任何组中均未检测到HPgV - 2 RNA。系统发育分析表明，分离出的所有HPgV - 1毒株均为2型基因型；亚组通常为2a（95.56%）。患者组的29株毒株中只有两株为2b亚型（4.44%）。在HIV - 1病毒载量方面，感染HPgV - 1和未感染HPgV - 1的HIV - 1阳性受试者之间无统计学显著差异。年龄<40岁者的HPgV - 1阳性率（25.80%）高于年龄≥40岁者（16.12%）（P = 0.00044）。
2a基因型被确定为主要基因型，这一发现与土耳其及同一地理区域其他国家先前报道的研究结果一致。需要进一步研究以更好地了解HPgV - 1病毒对HIV感染的影响。
