Apolipoprotein 4 may increase viral load and seizure frequency in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy patients with positive human herpes virus 6B.

Abstract

This study investigated whether apolipoprotein 4 (ApoE4) was associated with the presence of human herpes virus (HHV)-6B in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). Polymerase chain reaction-restricted fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) was used to determine ApoE polymorphism in 46 patients with MTLE and 19 controls. Nested PCR and real-time PCR were applied to determine HHV-6B DNA and immunohistochemistry (IHC) for HHV-6B protein. Viral DNA load was significantly increased in MTLE patients with HHV-6B(+)/ApoE4 compared with those with HHV-6B(+)/non-ApoE4 (p=0.031). Semi-quantitative analysis of IHC showed significantly increased number of positive cells for HHV-6B proteins G116/64/54, P98 and U94 in patients with HHV-6B(+)/ApoE4 than HHV-6B(+)/non-ApoE4 (p=0.009, 0.035 and 0.009, respectively). Patients with HHV-6B(+)/ApoE4 showed higher seizure frequency than those with HHV-6B(+)/non-ApoE4 (p=0.005). There was no significant difference of ApoE alleles between MTLE with and without HHV-6B (p=0.115). ApoE4 was not associated with initial infection of HHV-6B in MTLE. However, ApoE4 may facilitate HHV-6B reactivation, DNA replication, virus protein expression and increase seizure frequency in MTLE. Further investigations are needed to understand the biomolecular mechanism underlying interaction between ApoE and HHV-6B.

• Authors: Cheng Huang, Bo Yan, Ding Lei, Yang Si, He Li, Ming-Wan Chen, Li Li, Fei Chen, Qiao Zhou, Dong Zhou, Jin-Mei Li
• Journal: Neuroscience letters (Neurosci Lett) Vol. 593 Pg. 29-34 (Apr 23 2015) ISSN: 1872-7972 [Electronic] Ireland
• PMID: 25576704 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Apolipoprotein E4
• DNA, Viral
• Viral Proteins

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Apolipoprotein E4 (genetics, metabolism)
• Brain (metabolism, virology)
• Case-Control Studies
• DNA, Viral (metabolism)
• Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe (complications, metabolism, physiopathology)
• Female
• Herpesvirus 6, Human
• Humans
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Polymorphism, Genetic
• Roseolovirus Infections (complications, metabolism, virology)
• Viral Load
• Viral Proteins (metabolism)
• Young Adult