Euro-RT JCV Kit

Also in 1971, another very similar although antigenically different Polyomavirus was isolated from brain tissue samples of a patient with Hodgkin lymphoma, affected by a rare demyelinating disease: progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).

This is a ubiquitous virus which is generally contagious in early childhood through the respiratory tract. Infection is generally asymptomatic and latent in the kidneys (but also in the lungs, tonsils, spleen, bone marrow), remaining quiescent for many years and reactivating in congenital or induced immunosuppressive
conditions. Its reactivation can cause PML in patients undergoing immunosuppressive therapies, such as AIDS, multiple sclerosis, Hodgkin’s lymphomas, IBD and RA.

In 2008 the manufacturer of a biological drug used to treat Multiple Sclerosis (Natalizumab) recalled the product after PML had developed in two patients treated with Tysabri with no association with interferon or other immunosuppressants. Later studies showed that the risk of PML in patients affected by SS was even lower than the 1 out of 1000 originally calculated according to the results of experimental studies and the drug was put back on the market. As a matter of fact, a comparison between the risk of developing this complication and the efficacy data in reducing the risk of relapses (75% approx.), showed that Natalizumab had to be regarded as an indispensable weapon to fight Multiple Sclerosis.

Both patients who contracted PML underwent the regular clinical surveillance provided at the authorized Centers when dispensing Natalizumab; this allowed the immediate identification of suspicious symptoms of JCV infection and, as a consequence, the immediate implementation of what are regarded as the latest and most effective therapies, with a subsequent regression of the clinical pattern and the development of further complications. Today, clinical surveillance shows the importance of staying focused on the patients being treated with Natalizumab as well as the importance of complying with the rules that the Italian and European Drug Agencies and the Italian Neurology Society have established for the staff of the Multiple Sclerosis centers. Allegedly, JCV can also cause, alone or in association with BKV, kidney diseases in patients subjected to kidney transplant.

The entry of the virus into the central nervous system can cause serious diseases such as nephropathy and progressive multifocal encephalopathy or PML, a severe and often fatal disease. Reactivation of viral replication in patients with kidney or bone-marrow transplant has acquired special importance in the pathogenesis of PML due to immunosuppression precisely induced by post-transplant therapies.
The reactivation of JCV infection in kidney transplant patients can be observed in 1-10% of the cases and is fostered by the increasingly frequent use of the new biological immunosuppressants. From a clinical and diagnostic point of view, therefore, monitoring the viral load levels is important as, beyond a certain threshold, they can compromise kidney function and lead to a loss of the transplanted organ. A close monitoring of the JCV-positive patient is, therefore, essential for a remodulation of the immunosuppressive therapy, if needed.

The infection can be identified by the appearance of the virus first in urine (viruria), and then in blood (viremia).

Euro RT-JCV- cod. 9152 –Real Time PCR Test for the quantitative determination of the polyomaviruses JC.
The kit contains a 5 standard calibration that allows simultaneous quantification of both viral target and internal control (human ß –globin). This feature allows to calculate the percentage of infected cells in the tissue samples (biopsy) .

Sensibilità analitica – LOD – 1 couple/µl
Range dinamico – da 1.5 x106 a 1 x100 couples/µl
Sensibilità diagnostica – 100%
Specificità diagnostica - > 99.5%


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