Author(s)

Ivan Gentile, Laura Altieri, Carla Lintas, Roberto Sacco, Paolo Curatolo, Arianna Benvenuto, Filippo Muratori, Elisa Santocchi, Carmela Bravaccio, Carlo Lenti, Raffaella Faggioli, Roberto Rigardetto, Marina Gandione, Giuseppe Portella, Emanuela Zappulo, Guglielmo Borgia, Antonio M. Persico

Department of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, I.R.C.C.S. “Stella Maris”, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
Department of Child Neuropsychiatry, University “Tor Vergata”, Rome, Italy.
Department of Child Neuropsychiatry, University of Milan, Italy.
Department of Child Neuropsychiatry, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, University of Naples “Federico II”, Naples, Italy.
Department of Experimental Neurosciences, I.R.C.C.S. “Fondazione Santa Lucia”, Rome, Italy.
Department of Translational Medical Science, University “Federico II”, Naples, Italy.
Fondazione Teda per l’Autismo ONLUS, Turin, Italy.
Mafalda Luce Center for Pervasive Developmental Disorders, Milan, Italy.
Unit of Child and Adolescent Neuropsychiatry, Laboratory of Molecular Psychiatry and Neurogenetics, University “Campus Bio- Medico”, Rome, Italy.

We have recently reported enhanced frequencies of polyomavirus infection in post-mortem brain tissue of autistic patients compared to controls. To further explore potential contributions to neurodevelopmental disorders by polyomaviruses, we have employed specie-specific TaqMan assays to assess the prevalence and titres of BKV, JCV and SV40 inthe urines of 87 patients with autism spectrum disorder, 84 controls matched by sex and age with the autistic sample, 15 subjects with Down syndrome and 13 fragile X individuals. Prevalence rates of urinary BKV infection were significantly greater in Down syndrome and fragile X patients compared to autistic and control individuals (P < 0.01). In a large majority of patients who showed the presence of urinary genomes, viral titres resulted significantly higher among Down syndrome patients (P < 0.01) compared to controls, autism spectrum disorder and fragile X individuals, who did not significantly differ from each other. Our results are consistent with previous evidence supporting hampered immunological surveillance and/or immune deficits in fragile X and especially in Down syndrome patients.

Autism; BKV; Down Syndrome; Fragile X Syndrome; JCV; SV40

Gentile, I. , Altieri, L. , Lintas, C. , Sacco, R. , Curatolo, P. , Benvenuto, A. , Muratori, F. , Santocchi, E. , Bravaccio, C. , Lenti, C. , Faggioli, R. , Rigardetto, R. , Gandione, M. , Portella, G. , Zappulo, E. , Borgia, G. and Persico, A. (2013) Urinary polyomavirus infections in neurodevelopmental disorders. Open Journal of Psychiatry, 3, 18-25. doi: 10.4236/ojpsych.2013.32A004.