TITLE:
Urinary polyomavirus infections in neurodevelopmental disorders
AUTHORS:
Ivan Gentile, Laura Altieri, Carla Lintas, Roberto Sacco, Paolo Curatolo, Arianna Benvenuto, Filippo Muratori, Elisa Santocchi, Carmela Bravaccio, Carlo Lenti, Raffaella Faggioli, Roberto Rigardetto, Marina Gandione, Giuseppe Portella, Emanuela Zappulo, Guglielmo Borgia, Antonio M. Persico
KEYWORDS:
Autism; BKV; Down Syndrome; Fragile X Syndrome; JCV; SV40
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Psychiatry,
Vol.3 No.2A,
April
16,
2013
ABSTRACT:
We have recently reported
enhanced frequencies of polyomavirus infection in post-mortem brain tissue of
autistic patients compared to controls. To further explore potential
contributions to neurodevelopmental disorders by polyomaviruses, we have
employed specie-specific TaqMan assays to assess the prevalence and titres of
BKV, JCV and SV40 inthe urines of 87 patients with autism spectrum disorder, 84 controls matched by
sex and age with the autistic sample, 15 subjects with Down syndrome and 13
fragile X individuals. Prevalence rates of urinary BKV infection were
significantly greater in Down syndrome and fragile X patients compared to
autistic and control individuals (P