Human parvovirus B19 (B19V) is the predominant cardiotropic virus associated with dilated inflammatory cardiomyopathy (DCMi). Transcriptionally active cardiotropic B19V infection is clinically relevant and triggers adverse long-term mortality. During the study; we evaluated whether antiviral treatment with the nucleoside analogue telbivudine (LTD) is effective in suppressing transcriptional active B19V in endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs) of B19V positive patients and improving clinical outcomes. Seventeen B19V-positive patients (13 male; mean age 45.7 ± 13.9 years; mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 37.7 ± 13.5%) with positive B19V DNA and transcriptional activity (B19V mRNA) in EMBs were treated with 600 mg/d LTD over a period of six months. Patients underwent EMBs before and after termination of the LTD treatment. B19V RNA copy numbers remained unchanged in 3/17 patients (non-responder) and declined or disappeared completely in the remaining 14/17 patients (responder) (p ≤ 0.0001). Notably; LVEF improvement was more significant in patients who reduced or lost B19V RNA (responder; p = 0.02) in contrast to non-responders (p = 0.7). In parallel; responder patients displayed statistically significant improvement in quality of life (QoL) questionnaires (p = 0.03) and dyspnea on exertion (p = 0.0006), reflecting an improvement in New York Heart Association (NYHA) Classification (p = 0.001). Our findings demonstrated for the first time that suppression of B19V transcriptional activity by LTD treatment improved hemodynamic and clinical outcome significantly. Thus; the present study substantiates the clinical relevance of detecting B19V transcriptional activity of the myocardium.
Keywords: dilated inflammatory cardiomyopathy; parvovirus B19; telbivudine.