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Blood, Vol. 93 No. 5 (March 1), 1999:
pp. 1502-1505
RAPID COMMUNICATION
A Prospective Study on TT Virus Infection in Transfusion-Dependent
Patients With  -Thalassemia
Daniele Prati,
Yu-Huei Lin,
Claudia De Mattei,
Jen-Kuei Liu,
Elena Farma,
Latha Ramaswamy,
Alberto Zanella,
Helen Lee,
Paolo Rebulla,
Jean-Pierre Allain,
Girolamo Sirchia, and
Benjamin Chen for the
Cooleycare Cooperative Group
From the Centro Trasfusionale e di Immunologia dei Trapianti and
Divisione di Ematologia, IRCCS Ospedale Maggiore, Milano, Italy;
Sentinel Biosciences, Inc, Palo Alto, CA; and University of Cambridge,
Cambridge, UK.
A novel DNA virus designated TT virus (TTV) has been reported to be
involved in the development of posttransfusion non-A-C hepatitis. We
evaluated the frequency and natural course of TTV infection in a cohort
of transfusion-dependent thalassemic patients in a 3-year follow-up
study. Ninety-three serum hepatitis C virus (HCV) antibody-negative
patients (median age of 8 years; range, 0 to 25) from eight centers
were studied. Of them, 34 (37%) had an abnormal
alanine-aminotransferase (ALT) baseline pattern, and the other 12 (13%) showed ALT flare-ups during the follow-up. TTV DNA in patient
sera collected at the time of enrollment and at the end of follow-up
was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). In parallel, serum
samples from 100 healthy blood donors were also tested. At baseline, 87 patient sera (93.5%) tested positive for the TTV DNA. Of these TTV
DNA-positive patients, 84 (96.5%) remained viremic at the end of the
study period. Of the 6 TTV DNA-negative patients, 3 acquired TTV
infection during follow-up. However, no definite relation was observed
between the results of TTV DNA determination and ALT patterns. TTV
viremia was also detectable in 22% of blood donors. In conclusion, TTV infection is frequent and persistent among Italian
transfusion-dependent patients. The high rate of viremia observed in
healthy donors indicates that the parenteral route is not the only mode
of TTV spread.
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