%0 Journal Article %J Blood %D 2011 %T Merkel cell polyomavirus DNA sequences in the buffy coats of healthy blood donors. %A Pancaldi, Cecilia %A Corazzari, Valentina %A Maniero, Stefania %A Mazzoni, Elisa %A Comar, Manola %A Martini, Fernanda %A Tognon, Mauro %K Adult %K Aged %K Base Sequence %K Blood Buffy Coat %K Carcinoma, Merkel Cell %K Databases, Nucleic Acid %K DNA, Viral %K Expressed Sequence Tags %K Humans %K Italy %K Middle Aged %K Molecular Sequence Data %K Polymerase Chain Reaction %K Polyomavirus %K Polyomavirus Infections %K Prevalence %K Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction %K Sequence Alignment %K Sequence Analysis, DNA %K Tumor Virus Infections %K Viral Load %K Young Adult %X
Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV), a DNA tumor virus, has been found to be associated with Merkel cell carcinoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. MCPyV sequences have also been detected in various normal tissues in tumor-affected patients. Immunologic studies have detected MCPyV antibodies in as many as 80% of healthy blood donors. This high seroprevalence suggests that MCPyV infection is widespread in humans. In our study, buffy coats, which were examined for MCPyV DNA Tag sequences, showed a prevalence of 22%. Viral DNA load was revealed in blood samples from 10 to 100 molecules/100 000 cells. DNA sequencing confirmed that polymerase chain reaction amplicons belong to the MCPyV strain, MKL-1. To interpret the putative role of MCPyV in chronic lymphocytic leukemia, we may infer that, during a long period of viral persistence in blood cells, this DNA tumor virus may generate mutants, which are able to participate as cofactors in the multistep process of cell transformation.
%B Blood %V 117 %P 7099-101 %8 2011 Jun 30 %G eng %N 26 %1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21464370?dopt=Abstract %R 10.1182/blood-2010-09-310557