Merkel Cell Polyomavirus

TY - CHAP

T1 - Merkel Cell Polyomavirus

AU - Fischer, Nicole

AU - Adam, Grundhoff

PY - 2014/6/12

Y1 - 2014/6/12

N2 - Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) is a recently discovered memberof the polyomaviridae, a family of small DNA viruses that replicatein the nucleus of their host cell. MCV is one of at least 12polyomaviruses that naturally infect humans, and furthermore one offour polyomaviruses that are known to cause severe human disease,predominantly in immunosuppressed or deficient individuals (DeCaprioand Garcea, Nat Rev Microbiol 2013;11(4):264–76; Korup et al., PLoSOne 2013;8(3):e58021). Of these, MCV is of particular interest sinceit presently is the only human polyomavirus known to be involved intumorigenesis. The virus was first identified in 2008 in tissue fromMerkel cell carcinoma (MCC) by high throughput sequencing (Feng etal., Science 2008;319(5866):1096–100). Considerable evidence suggeststhat MCV is causally linked to MCC pathogenesis: Viral DNA ismonoclonally integrated into the genome of the tumor cells in up to 90 %of all MCV cases, and the integrated MCV genomes furthermore harborsignature mutations that selectively abrogate viral replication whilepreserving cell cycle deregulating functions of the virus (Chang andMoore, Annu Rev Pathol 2012;7:123–44). Nonetheless, the developmentof MCC is doubtlessly a very rare complication of MCV infection, giventhat MCV is highly prevalent in the general population, with 44–80 %of adults displaying serum reactivity against viral antigens. What cellsrepresent the natural reservoir of MCV infection in healthy individuals,whether the virus is potentially linked to human diseases other than MCC,and how precisely MCV infection contributes to cellular transformationduring MCC pathogenesis are unresolved issues that are the subject ofcurrent research efforts.

AB - Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCV) is a recently discovered memberof the polyomaviridae, a family of small DNA viruses that replicatein the nucleus of their host cell. MCV is one of at least 12polyomaviruses that naturally infect humans, and furthermore one offour polyomaviruses that are known to cause severe human disease,predominantly in immunosuppressed or deficient individuals (DeCaprioand Garcea, Nat Rev Microbiol 2013;11(4):264–76; Korup et al., PLoSOne 2013;8(3):e58021). Of these, MCV is of particular interest sinceit presently is the only human polyomavirus known to be involved intumorigenesis. The virus was first identified in 2008 in tissue fromMerkel cell carcinoma (MCC) by high throughput sequencing (Feng etal., Science 2008;319(5866):1096–100). Considerable evidence suggeststhat MCV is causally linked to MCC pathogenesis: Viral DNA ismonoclonally integrated into the genome of the tumor cells in up to 90 %of all MCV cases, and the integrated MCV genomes furthermore harborsignature mutations that selectively abrogate viral replication whilepreserving cell cycle deregulating functions of the virus (Chang andMoore, Annu Rev Pathol 2012;7:123–44). Nonetheless, the developmentof MCC is doubtlessly a very rare complication of MCV infection, giventhat MCV is highly prevalent in the general population, with 44–80 %of adults displaying serum reactivity against viral antigens. What cellsrepresent the natural reservoir of MCV infection in healthy individuals,whether the virus is potentially linked to human diseases other than MCC,and how precisely MCV infection contributes to cellular transformationduring MCC pathogenesis are unresolved issues that are the subject ofcurrent research efforts.

U2 - 10.1007/978-1-4939-0859-2_8

DO - 10.1007/978-1-4939-0859-2_8

M3 - SCORING: Contribution to collected editions/anthologies

SN - 978-1-4939-0858-5

SP - 113

EP - 122

BT - Cancers in People with HIV and AIDS

A2 - Yarchoan, Robert

PB - Springer

ER -