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World J Gastroenterol. Oct 21, 2008; 14(39): 6044-6051
Published online Oct 21, 2008. doi: 10.3748/wjg.14.6044
Torque teno virus: Its prevalence and isotypes in North India
Mohammad Irshad, Shiwani Singh, Khushboo Irshad, Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Yogendra Kumar Joshi
Mohammad Irshad, Shiwani Singh, Clinical Biochemistry Division, Department of Laboratory Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi-110029, India
Khushboo Irshad, Department of Biochemistry, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi-110029, India
Sanjay Kumar Agarwal, Department of Nephrology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi-110029, India
Yogendra Kumar Joshi, Department of Gastroenterology and Human Nutrition, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi-110029, India
Author contributions: Irshad M planned the study; Singh S and Irshad K performed the experiments; Agarwal SK and Joshi YK examined the patients and provided patients' material.
Supported by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi-110049 for financial grant
Correspondence to: Dr. Mohammad Irshad, Professor, Clinical Biochemistry Division, Department of Laboratory Medicine, PO Box-4938, A.I.I.M.S., New Delhi-110029, India. drirshad54@yahoo.com
Telephone: +11-91-26594981 Fax: +11-91-26588641
Received: May 30, 2008
Revised: August 11, 2008
Accepted: August 18, 2008
Published online: October 21, 2008
Abstract

AIM: To investigate the prevalence and genotype distribution of Torque teno virus (TTV) in patients with different liver diseases and chronic renal failure treated at a referral hospital in North India.

METHODS: Whereas prevalence of TTV was based on amplification of conserved region of ORF2 of TTV genome, the genotyping of TTV was carried out using restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) procedure on the N22 region of ORF1.

RESULTS: TTV-DNA was detected in 137 of 513 (26.7%) patients with liver diseases and 38 of 65 (58.5%) patients with chronic renal failure. TTV was also detected in 27% of healthy controls. The sequence analysis of the PCR product from 10 randomly selected cases failed to show a significant sequence divergence when compared with that of the TRM1 isolate of TTV genotype 1. The results of genotyping in 55 randomly selected patients showed the presence of genotype 1 (G1) in 53 (96.4%) and genotype 2 (G2) in 2 cases (3.6%), respectively. Other genotypes were not identified in this patient subgroup, suggesting that G1 is predominant in this area. The results of genotyping by RFLP were also supported by phylogenetic tree analysis, where G1 was found to be the major genotype.

CONCLUSION: These results indicate that TTV is moderately present in Indian patients, with G1 to be the major genotype in North India. The pathogenicity and etiological role of TTV in different diseases is still a question mark and warrant further studies.

Keywords: Torque teno virus, Genotype, Restriction fragment length polymorphism, Torque teno, Hepatocellular carcinoma