Naoumov N V, Petrova E P, Thomas M G, Williams R
Institute of Hepatology, Department of Medicine, University College London Medical School, UK.
Lancet. 1998 Jul 18;352(9123):195-7. doi: 10.1016/S0140-6736(98)04069-0.
A newly described DNA virus, named transfusion-transmitted virus (TTV), was recently detected with high prevalence in Japanese patients with fulminant hepatitis and chronic liver disease of unknown aetiology. We investigated the presence of this virus in patients with liver disease in the UK to find out whether TTV infection is associated with liver damage.
We used semi-nested PCR to amplify TTV DNA from serum samples from 126 adults, of whom 72 were patients with a range of chronic liver diseases, 24 had spontaneous resolution of infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV), and 30 were normal controls. Direct DNA sequencing and phylogenetic analysis were used to characterise the TTV isolates.
We detected TTV DNA in 18 (25%) of the 72 patients with chronic liver disease, which was not different from the 10% prevalence in normal controls (p=0.15). The rate of TTV DNA was similar among patients with various liver diseases. The majority of TTV-positive cases had no biochemical or histological evidence of significant liver damage. TTV DNA sequencing of nine isolates showed the same genotypic groups as in Japan: three patients were infected with genotype 1, which showed 4% nucleotide divergence, and six patients were infected with genotype 2 with 15-27% divergence.
The high prevalence of active TTV infection in the general population, both in the UK and in Japan, and the lack of significant liver damage, suggest that TTV, similar to hepatitis G virus (HGV), may be an example of a human virus with no clear disease association.
一种新发现的DNA病毒，名为输血传播病毒（TTV），最近在日本暴发性肝炎和病因不明的慢性肝病患者中被检测到，其感染率很高。我们调查了英国肝病患者中这种病毒的存在情况，以确定TTV感染是否与肝损伤有关。
我们使用半巢式PCR从126名成年人的血清样本中扩增TTV DNA，其中72名是患有一系列慢性肝病的患者，24名丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染已自然清除，30名是正常对照。采用直接DNA测序和系统发育分析来鉴定TTV分离株。
我们在72名慢性肝病患者中的18名（25%）检测到TTV DNA，这与正常对照中10%的感染率无差异（p=0.15）。不同肝病患者中TTV DNA的检出率相似。大多数TTV阳性病例没有明显肝损伤的生化或组织学证据。对9个分离株的TTV DNA测序显示与日本相同的基因型组：3名患者感染1型，核苷酸差异为4%，6名患者感染2型，差异为15 - 27%。
在英国和日本，普通人群中活跃的TTV感染率都很高，且缺乏明显的肝损伤，这表明TTV可能与庚型肝炎病毒（HGV）类似，是一种与疾病无明确关联的人类病毒。
