Giant-cell glioblastoma of childhood associated with HIV-1 and JC virus coinfection

Purpose

John Cunningham (JC) viral DNA sequence has seldom been reported in patients with brain tumors such as high grade gliomas and medulloblastomas, pointing to a role in the etiopathogenesis of such tumors.

Results

We present a unique clinical case of an HIV-positive pediatric patient with multifocal leukoencephalopathy and confirmed JC virus (JCV) infection that developed a giant-cell glioblastoma.

Conclusions

Experimental data with infected primates has previously hypothesized an association of human giant-cell glioblastoma with JCV or progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy, though such association has not been documented in the literature for humans. Future studies with larger cohorts and molecular pathological analyses are still needed to corroborate the role of the widely spread human neurotropic virus in early transformation and in the development of brain tumors with different histology in the setting of HIV-related severe immunosuppression.