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Clinical and Developmental Immunology
Volume 2012 (2012), Article ID 972102, 9 pages
doi:10.1155/2012/972102
Molecular Networks Involved in the Immune Control of BK Polyomavirus
1Transplant Laboratory, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Videnska 1958, 140 21 Prague 4, Czech Republic
2Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Czech Technical University in Prague, Karlovo namesti 13, 121 35 Prague 2, Czech Republic
3Department of Nephrology, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Videnska 1958, 140 21 Prague 4, Czech Republic
4Department of Statistics, Institute for Clinical and Experimental Medicine, Videnska 1958, 140 21 Prague 4, Czech Republic
Received 28 August 2012; Accepted 5 November 2012
Academic Editor: Rossana Cavallo
Copyright © 2012 Eva Girmanova et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Abstract
BK polyomavirus infection is the important cause of virus-related nephropathy following kidney transplantation. BK virus reactivates in 30%–80% of kidney transplant recipients resulting in BK virus-related nephropathy in 1%–10% of cases. Currently, the molecular processes associated with asymptomatic infections in transplant patients infected with BK virus remain unclear. In this study we evaluate intrarenal molecular processes during different stages of BKV infection. The gene expression profiles of 90 target genes known to be associated with immune response were evaluated in kidney graft biopsy material using TaqMan low density array. Three patient groups were examined: control patients with no evidence of BK virus reactivation (), infected asymptomatic patients (), and patients with BK virus nephropathy (). Analysis of biopsies from asymptomatic viruria patients resulted in the identification of 5 differentially expressed genes (CD3E, CD68, CCR2, ICAM-1, and SKI) (), and functional analysis showed a significantly heightened presence of costimulatory signals (e.g., CD40/CD40L; ). Gene ontology analysis revealed several biological networks associated with BKV immune control in comparison to the control group. This study demonstrated that asymptomatic BK viruria is associated with a different intrarenal regulation of several genes implicating in antiviral immune response.