Molecular interactions between porcine and human gammaherpesviruses: implications for xenografts?

Abstract

The results suggest that reciprocal molecular interactions between human and porcine herpesviruses might occur in vivo, and support the hypothesis that PLHV-1 might have pathogenic relevance in the course of xenotransplantation.

Porcine lymphotropic herpesvirus DNA detection in multiple organs of pigs in Brazil

“…Even though herpesviruses are generally species-specific, the risk of infection in the human recipient after transplantation is a concern due to different factors associated with both recipient and infectious agents, such as immunosuppression, inflammatory responses, and intracellular pathogens and latent viruses (reviewed in [5]). In vitro studies have shown that PLHV-1 and human herpesviruses may feature mutual interactions, potentially triggering either human herpesvirus reactivation or PLHV-1 gene expression [6]. Therefore, the risk of humans may be infected by these viruses after xenotransplantation Responsible Editor: Giliane Souza Trindade Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s42770-020-00335-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.…”

Development of a recombinant antigen‐based ELISA for the sero‐detection of porcine lymphotropic herpesviruses

“…In previous studies, we have demonstrated that an interaction between human gammaherpesviruses and PLHV‐1 might be possible. The main transactivators Rta/ORF50 of EBV and HHV‐8 transactivated strongly different PLHV‐1 promoters, and expression of PLHV‐1 ORF50 in latently HHV‐8‐infected B cells resulted in upregulation of the most abundant HHV‐8 transcript, indicating lytic reactivation [16,17]. To avoid the risk of PLHV transmission to the human recipient, breeding of PLHV‐free pigs is therefore necessary.…”

Infection Barriers to Successful Xenotransplantation Focusing on Porcine Endogenous Retroviruses

“…Although the risk of infection of the xenotransplant by human viruses may be low because of missing receptors and an incompatible cell metabolism, some human viruses, such as human cytomegalovirus, human adenovirus, and hepatitis C virus, infect pigs (for a review, see references 215 and 216). It remains unclear whether infection with human viruses will harm the xenotransplant, whether porcine and human viruses may interact (276), and whether screening for human viruses before and after transplantation may be useful.…”