Published in:
01-11-2016 | Brief Report
A new densovirus in cerebrospinal fluid from a case of anti-NMDA-receptor encephalitis
Authors:
Tung Gia Phan, Kevin Messacar, Samuel R. Dominguez, Antonio Charlys da Costa, Xutao Deng, Eric Delwart
Published in:
Archives of Virology
|
Issue 11/2016
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Abstract
We characterized the genome of a densovirus, tentatively called human CSF-associated densovirus 1 (HuCSFDV1), in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from a human case of encephalitis with antibodies against the N-methyl D-aspartate receptor. The presence of the viral genome in CSF was independently confirmed. This virus, which is proposed to be a member of a new species in the genus Iteradensovirus of the subfamily Densovirinae, showed the typical two ORFs encoding nonstructural and structural proteins with low-level identities of 22 and 16 % to the closest known densovirus relative. No other eukaryotic viral sequences were detected using deep sequencing. The replication and pathogenicity in humans of this virus, which belongs to a viral subfamily whose members are only known to replicate in invertebrates, remain to be demonstrated. Alternative explanations for the detection of densovirus DNA in CSF are discussed.