Diagnostic assays for polyomavirus JC and progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy |
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| Authors: | Martyn K. White Ilker K. Sariyer Jennifer Gordon Serena Delbue Valeria Pietropaolo Joseph R. Berger Kamel Khalili |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Neuroscience, Center for Neurovirology and Comprehensive NeuroAIDS Center, Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA;2. Department of Health Sciences and Infectious Diseases, Sapienza University, Rome, Italy;3. Department of Biomedical, Surgical and Dental Sciences, University of Milano, Milano, Italy;4. Department of Neurology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA |
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| Abstract: | Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a devastating and often fatal demyelinating disease of the central nervous system for which effective therapies are lacking. It is caused by the replication of polyomavirus JC (JCV) in the oligodendrocytes and astrocytes leading to their cytolytic death and loss of myelin from the subcortical white matter. While the virus is very common in human populations worldwide, the incidence of the disease is very low and confined almost exclusively to individuals with some form of immunological dysfunction. However, the number of people who constitute the at‐risk population is growing larger and includes individuals with HIV‐1/AIDS and patients receiving immunomodulatory therapies such as multiple sclerosis patients treated with natalizumab. Further adding to the public health significance of this disease are the difficulties encountered in the diagnosis of PML and the lack of useful biomarkers for PML progression. In this review, we examine the diagnostic assays that are available for different aspects of the JCV life cycle, their usefulness and drawbacks, and the prospects for improvements. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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