Blood genome expression profiles in infants with congenital cytomegalovirus infection

Nat Commun. 2020 Jul 15;11(1):3548. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-17178-5.

Abstract

Congenital CMV infection (cCMVi) affects 0.5-1% of all live births worldwide, making it the leading cause of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in childhood. The majority of infants with cCMVi have normal hearing at birth, but are at risk of developing late-onset SNHL. Currently, we lack reliable biomarkers to predict the development of SNHL in these infants. Here, we evaluate blood transcriptional profiles in 80 infants with cCMVi (49 symptomatic, 31 asymptomatic), enrolled in the first 3 weeks of life, and followed for 3 years to assess emergence of late-onset SNHL. The biosignatures of symptomatic and asymptomatic cCMVi are indistinguishable, suggesting that immune responses of infants with asymptomatic and symptomatic cCMVi are not different. Random forest analyses of initial samples in infants with cCMVi, irrespective of their clinical classification, identify a 16-gene classifier signature associated with the development of SNHL with 92% accuracy, suggesting its potential value as a biomarker.

Publication types

  • Observational Study
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Asymptomatic Infections
  • Biomarkers / blood
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cytomegalovirus / immunology*
  • Cytomegalovirus / isolation & purification
  • Cytomegalovirus Infections / blood*
  • Cytomegalovirus Infections / complications
  • Cytomegalovirus Infections / congenital
  • Cytomegalovirus Infections / virology
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Profiling*
  • Gene Expression Regulation / immunology*
  • Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / epidemiology*
  • Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / genetics
  • Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / immunology
  • Hearing Loss, Sensorineural / virology
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions / genetics
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions / immunology
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Longitudinal Studies
  • Male
  • Prospective Studies
  • Risk Assessment / methods
  • Transcriptome / genetics

Substances

  • Biomarkers