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Journal of Virology, December 2001, p. 11999-12004, Vol. 75, No. 24
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.24.11999-12004.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Dynamics of Persistent TT Virus Infection, as Determined in Patients Treated with Alpha Interferon for Concomitant Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Fabrizio Maggi,1 Mauro Pistello,1 Marialinda Vatteroni,1 Silvano Presciuttini,1 Santino Marchi,2 Patrizia Isola,1 Claudia Fornai,1 Sabina Fagnani,1 Elisabetta Andreoli,1 Guido Antonelli,3 and Mauro Bendinelli1,*

Virology Section and Retrovirus Center, Department of Biomedicine,1 and Gastroenterology Unit,2 University of Pisa, Pisa, and Department of Experimental Medicine and Pathology, University "La Sapienza," Rome,3 Italy

Received 29 May 2001/Accepted 6 September 2001

TT virus (TTV) is a recently identified widespread DNA virus of humans that produces persistent viremia in the absence of overt clinical manifestations. In an attempt to shed light on the dynamics of chronic infection, we measured the levels of TTV in the plasma of 25 persistently infected patients during the first 3 months of alpha interferon (IFN-alpha ) treatment for concomitant hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. The first significant decline of TTV loads was observed at day 3 versus day 1 for HCV. Subsequently, the loads of TTV became progressively lower in most patients, but some initial responders relapsed before the end of the follow-up, suggesting that at least in some subjects the effects of IFN on TTV can be very short-lived. No correlation between the responses of TTV and HCV to therapy was found. Fitting the viremia data obtained during the first week of treatment into previously developed mathematical models showed that TTV sustains very active chronic infections, with over 90% of the virions in plasma cleared and replenished daily and a minimum of approximately 3.8 × 1010 virions generated per day. Low levels of TTV were occasionally detected in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of patients who had cleared plasma viremia, thus corroborating previous results showing that these cells may support TTV replication and/or persistence.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dipartimento di Biomedicina, Università di Pisa, Via San Zeno 37, I-56127 Pisa, Italy. Phone: 39 050 559.440. Fax: 39 050 559.455. E-mail: bendinelli{at}biomed.unipi.it.

Journal of Virology, December 2001, p. 11999-12004, Vol. 75, No. 24
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0   DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.24.11999-12004.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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