Clinical Relevance of Torque Teno Virus (TTV) in HIV/HCV Coinfected and HCV Monoinfected Patients Treated with Direct-Acting Antiviral Therapy

Abstract

Torque Teno virus (TTV) is a ubiquitous virus that causes chronic infection in humans with unknown clinical consequences. Here, we investigated the influence of TTV infection on HCV direct-acting antiviral (DAA) efficacy in HIV/HCV coinfected and HCV monoinfected patients as controls. Of 92 study patients, 79.3% were TTV DNA positive; untreated patients exhibited a significantly higher proportion of TTV DNA-positivity vs. sustained virological response (SVR) patients (100.0% vs. 65.2%, p < 0.001), while TTV positivity was not significant in DAA failure patients vs. SVR patients despite HIV/HCV coinfection. TTV DNA viral load was higher among HCV monoinfected patients vs. HIV/HCV coinfected, although marginally significant (p = 0.074) and no significant viral load difference was detected between DAA failures and SVR patients, while untreated vs. SVR patients had a significantly higher viral load (19,884, IQR 5977–333,534, vs. 469, IQR 10–4124, p = 0.004). Alpha-genogroup 3 TTV was the most prevalent genetic group, and no specific strain or genogroup was observed in relapser patients. Among HIV/HCV patients with HCV RNA detectable at end of treatment (EOT), TTV DNA was detected in 9/17 treatment responder patients and 3/5 relapser patients, thus, TTV infection does not appear to influence the control HCV viremia after EOT. Levels of IL-6 IL-4, and CD14 were not significantly different between TTV PCR-positive and -negative patients. These results suggest no association between TTV DNA positivity or viral load and HCV DAA failure whether patients were HIV/HCV coinfected or HCV monoinfected.

Characterization of the brain virome in human immunodeficiency virus infection and substance use disorder

“…Torque teno virus (TTV) had a higher viral burden in HIV+ people. Of interest, TTV has an increased viremia in HIV+ patients [ 23 ].…”

The mysterious anelloviruses: investigating its role in human diseases

“…The high circulation of this virus among the human population indicates that TTV is not the main cause of a specific disease. Still, TTV can help develop a disease as an auxiliary factor or cofactor [ 34 ]. It has been shown that TTV viral replication and, thus, viral load is significantly increased in patients with pathological conditions such as untreated solid cancer [ 96 ].…”

“…Its high prevalence in human populations indicates that this virus cannot be the leading cause of a particular disease. Still it has the ability to act as an auxiliary factor in the initiation and development of the disease [ 34 , 35 ]. Fewer studies have been conducted on TTMV and TTMDV, but it is known that the prevalence of these viruses in human blood is significantly lower than in TTV [ 36 ].…”

“…Fewer studies have been conducted on TTMV and TTMDV, but it is known that the prevalence of these viruses in human blood is significantly lower than in TTV [ 36 ]. Various studies have highlighted the relationship between the viral load of these viruses and various types of cancer, immunodeficiency diseases, and viral infections [ 10 , 34 , 37 , 38 ]. It has also been stated that these viruses can interact with a person’s immune system and be used as a marker for the host’s immune system status in people suffering from immunodeficiency diseases or undergoing organ transplantation [ 39 ].…”

Phylogenetic analysis of torque teno virus in Romania: possible evidence of distinct geographical distribution

“…The genomic region analyzed in this study, as well as in another recent study [ 35 ], proves to have a higher phylogenetic resolution, as it is able to discriminate between TTV subspecies, defined as a grouping of isolates with ORF1 nucleotide sequence divergence of 35-20% [ 9 ]).…”