Genotypes of TT virus (TTV) compared between liver disease patients and healthy individuals using a new PCR system capable of differentiating 1a and 1b types from others

摘要: TT virus (TTV) lacks obvious pathogenicity; almost all of the infected hosts are symptom-free. A possibility remains, however, that certain strains can cause liver disease while most others non-pathogenic. Genotypes 1 a and 1 b have been proposed to contain such pathogenic strains. To test this possibility, we constructed a PCR system capable detecting TTV genotypes differentially from other genotypes, compared frequencies these between patients with unknown etiology (n=42) healthy individuals (n=50). The assay comprised 3 steps: i) amplify 3.2-kb fragment using universal primers; ii) 2nd-round PCR, starting amplicon, for ∼280-nt by use genotype 1-specific iii) digestion amplicon MboI BanI discriminate 1 b. Eventually, 40 (95%) 47 (94%) controls were positive 1 a, 1 b, 1 a+1 b, non-1 found in 2 (5%) vs 4 (9 %), 5 (13%) (9%), 1 (3%) (2%) 32 (80%) 38 (81%) controls, respectively: distribution was identical two groups. hypothesis may be more closely associated than not supported study.