V348I mutation in UL23 gene of human herpesvirus 1 in a case of herpetic hepatitis and haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis

S Corcione; F Sidoti; C Costa; S Mornese Pinna; C Bonetto; R Urbino; R Cavallo; F G De Rosa

doi:10.1016/j.nmni.2019.100529

V348I mutation in UL23 gene of human herpesvirus 1 in a case of herpetic hepatitis and haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis

New Microbes New Infect. 2019 Mar 14:29:100529. doi: 10.1016/j.nmni.2019.100529. eCollection 2019 May.

Authors

S Corcione¹, F Sidoti², C Costa², S Mornese Pinna¹, C Bonetto³, R Urbino³, R Cavallo², F G De Rosa¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Medical Sciences, Infectious Diseases, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
² Department of Public Health and Microbiology, Laboratory of Microbiology and Virology, AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza, University of Turin, Turin, Italy.
³ Department of Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Emergency, AOU Città della Salute e della Scienza, Turin, Italy.

Abstract

We herein report the case of a young immunocompetent adult patient with a rapidly fatal haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis syndrome related to human herpesvirus 1 (HHV-1) infection, with herpetic hepatitis and persistent high-level viraemia despite treatment with acyclovir. Haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis was confirmed in the patient's spleen and bone marrow. HHV-1 DNA was extracted from whole blood and liver biopsy and the UL23 gene was sequenced. A V348I natural polymorphism of the TK protein was found in blood and liver specimens. Further studies are needed to investigate the role of this polymorphism in the development of systemic immune dysregulation.

Keywords: Acyclovir; UL23 gene; haemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis syndrome; herpetic hepatitis; human herpesvirus-1.

Publication types

Case Reports