Journal of Clinical Virology最新文献

{"title":"Some assembly required: Comparison of bioinformatic pipelines for analysis of viral metagenomic sequencing from nosocomial respiratory virus outbreaks","authors":"Assad Alhaboub ,&nbsp;Natalie M. Deschenes ,&nbsp;Xena X. Li ,&nbsp;Victoria R. Williams ,&nbsp;Kevin C. Katz ,&nbsp;So Yeon Park ,&nbsp;Patryk Aftanas ,&nbsp;Henry Wong ,&nbsp;Calvin Sjaarda ,&nbsp;Kyla Tozer ,&nbsp;Finlay Maguire ,&nbsp;Jerome Leis ,&nbsp;Prameet Sheth ,&nbsp;Robert Kozak","doi":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105877","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105877","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Metagenomic sequencing (mGS) is a useful tool for identifying pathogens in patient samples. During nosocomial outbreaks of respiratory viruses, mGS allows for the identification of viral strains and provides insight into their genetic relatedness. Multiple bioinformatics analysis assembler are available for processing data, but a comprehensive comparison of their performance in for respiratory virus outbreaks has not been conducted.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>This study sequenced samples from five separate nosocomial outbreaks of RNA respiratory viruses. RNA was extracted from the samples, and cDNA was synthesized using random hexamers, and then sequenced on an Illumina Miniseq following Nextera DNA Flex library preparation. The data from each outbreak were analyzed using four different assemblers: MEGAHIT, rnaSPAdes, rnaviralSPAdes, and coronaSPAdes, to evaluate their analytical performance.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>The mGS confirmed the viral identification and provided accurate strain identification for both coronavirus and parainfluenza virus samples. However, differences were observed between the assemblers in terms of the largest contigs produced and the proportion of the viral genome aligned with reference genomes. Notably, coronaSpades outperformed the other pipelines for analyzing seasonal coronaviruses, generating more complete data and covering a higher percentage of the viral genome.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>Achieving a higher percentage of the viral genome sequence is crucial for a more detailed characterization, which is especially valuable for outbreak analysis where viral strains may only differ by a few genetic changes. Comparison of assemblers will allow for clinical laboratories to determine the bioinformatic pipeline that is optimal for helping clinicians better manage outbreaks.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15517,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Virology","volume":"181 ","pages":"Article 105877"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145220249","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Performance of the Alinity m HR HPV assay on self-collected vaginal samples compared to clinician-collected cervical samples","authors":"Adino Tesfahun Tsegaye ,&nbsp;Megan A. Clarke ,&nbsp;Beverly Long ,&nbsp;Nicole P. Chappell ,&nbsp;Sarah A. Phillips ,&nbsp;Megan A. Swiger ,&nbsp;Anna BuAbbud ,&nbsp;Priya Sathyanarayan ,&nbsp;Nicolas Wentzensen","doi":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105883","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105883","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Human papillomavirus (HPV) testing using self-collected samples could increase cervical cancer screening among never screened or underscreened populations. This study aimed to evaluate the concordance between self-collected and clinician-collected samples using the Alinity m high risk (HR) HPV extended genotyping assay.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Self-collected vaginal samples and clinician-collected cervical samples were obtained from 25 to 69-year-old women who had visits for cervical cancer screening, colposcopy, follow up pap test, and/or treatment of cervical dysplasia at the George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC and Sarasota Memorial Health Care System and their affiliates in Florida. Extended genotyping based on the Alinity m HR HPV assay was performed on stored residual samples and the agreement between clinician- and self-collected HPV test results was assessed using positive percent agreement and Cohen’s kappa values.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>There were 294 participants who provided paired self and clinician-collected samples. The overall prevalence of any HR-HPV was 26 %(76/293) for clinician-collected samples and 27 %(79/291) for self-collected samples. The positive percent agreement between clinician- and self-collected samples for any HR-HPV was 78 %, and the Cohen’s Kappa value was 0.83(95 %CI:0.76,0.91). For specific HPV genotypes, the positive percent agreement ranged from 72 % for HPV16–79 % for other HR-HPV group A (HPV31/33/52/58); and the Kappa value ranged from 0.83(95 %CI:0.68,0.98) for HPV16–0.87(95 %CI:0.77,0.97) for other HR-HPV group A.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusion</h3><div>There was a strong test concordance between self-collected and clinician-collected samples using the Alinity m HR HPV assay. Self-collected samples tested with the Alinity m HR HPV assays can be considered an alternative to clinician-collected primary HPV testing.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15517,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Virology","volume":"181 ","pages":"Article 105883"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145400976","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Syndromic approach for rapid detection and differentiation of human pathogenic alphaviruses","authors":"Carlo Fischer ,&nbsp;Anges Yadouleton ,&nbsp;Miguel Mauricio Cabada ,&nbsp;Miladi Gatty Nogueira ,&nbsp;Marta Piche-Ovares ,&nbsp;Stephane Sohou ,&nbsp;César Augusto Cabezas Sánchez ,&nbsp;Patricia T. Bozza ,&nbsp;María Paquita García Mendoza ,&nbsp;Eduardo Gotuzzo ,&nbsp;Fernando Augusto Bozza ,&nbsp;Jan Felix Drexler","doi":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105872","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105872","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Knowledge of epidemiology, pathogenesis, and public health burden is scarce for many arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses). Insufficient knowledge is partly attributable to the lack of exhaustive laboratory diagnostics due to resource limitations. Among arboviruses, arthritogenic and encephalitogenic alphaviruses are globally widespread, can cause severe disease, and can co-occur regionally.</div></div><div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>We developed and validated a multiplexed real-time reverse transcription-PCR assay for the detection of all alphaviruses commonly causing human disease except Barmah Forest virus.</div></div><div><h3>Study design</h3><div>The assay combines five antigenic complex-specific assays and one Chikungunya virus (CHIKV)-specific assay in a single parallelized reaction.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Comparisons with previously published PCR-based protocols for broad alphavirus detection using 20 different human-pathogenic alphaviruses revealed a significantly higher sensitivity of the new multiplexed assay (Fisher’s exact test, p &lt; 0.0001). Detection limits with the new assay ranged from 0.83 cps/μl of extracted O’nyong-nyong virus to 33.05 cps/μl of extracted Western equine encephalitis virus. Antigenic complexes could be clearly differentiated by reactivity, Ct values (<em>t</em>-test, p &lt; 0.0025) and signal intensities (<em>t</em>-test, p &lt; 0.0001), even when testing high alphavirus concentrations potentially capable of causing false-positive PCR results. Testing of high-titred cell culture supernatants of eight important non-alphaviral arboviruses, of 4308 serum samples collected from febrile patients in Benin and Peru, of seven CHIKV-positive diagnostic samples from Brazil, and of non-targeted alphaviruses confirmed excellent diagnostic performance by the new assay, including improved detection of CHIKV, Mayaro and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus in clinical specimens.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Short turn-around time, applicability in resource-limited settings, antigenic complex determination, and higher sensitivity compared to previously available tests make the new assay a useful tool for alphavirus surveillance and routine patient diagnostics.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15517,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Virology","volume":"181 ","pages":"Article 105872"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145212764","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Detection of HIV-1 drug resistance in RNA and proviral DNA genotyping is variable both longitudinally and during repeat testing","authors":"Michelle L. D'Antoni ,&nbsp;Kristen Andreatta ,&nbsp;Silvia Chang ,&nbsp;Kirsten White ,&nbsp;Hui Liu ,&nbsp;Yongwu Shao ,&nbsp;Jason T. Hindman ,&nbsp;Laurie A. VanderVeen ,&nbsp;Christian Callebaut","doi":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105870","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105870","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>HIV-1 variants harboring resistance-associated mutations (RAMs) can be archived in viral reservoirs and then re-emerge. Given the dynamic properties of the latent reservoir and detection limits of genotypic assays, RAM persistence over time is incompletely understood.</div></div><div><h3>Objective</h3><div>This retrospective analysis investigated RAM detection in adults with HIV.</div></div><div><h3>Study design</h3><div>Genotyping of protease, reverse transcriptase, and integrase from 3 bictegravir/emtricitabine/tenofovir alafenamide switch studies was included. Longitudinal analyses were performed for participants with combinations of RNA and proviral DNA genotype reports from ≥2 pre-switch timepoints. Reported RAMs assessed at 2 timepoints were categorized as 100 % or 50 % detection, and those assessed at ≥3 timepoints as persistent, lost, gained, or inconsistent detection. From each whole blood sample, reproducibility (%) of proviral RAM reporting was the number of times the mutation was detected per number of assays run (2–4 replicates).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>In 223 participants, of 262 RAMs tracked longitudinally over 2 timepoints, 39 % (103/262) had 100 % detection and 61 % (159/262) had 50 % detection, with 64 % (101/159) detected at timepoint 2. In 25 participants with ≥3 timepoints, detection of 57 RAMs was categorized as persistent (19 %; 11/57), lost (12 %; 7/57), gained (26 %; 15/57), or inconsistent (42 %; 24/57). Mean (standard deviation) reproducibility of proviral RAM detection at 1 timepoint was 80.9 % (27.2 %) (336 RAMs from 70 participants).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>No consistent pattern of longitudinal RAM detection was observed. Reproducibility of proviral genotyping was high but variable. Since RAMs were not always consistently detected, an individual’s cumulative resistance history should be considered for optimal treatment management.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15517,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Virology","volume":"181 ","pages":"Article 105870"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145097081","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluation of a diagnostic metagenomic sequencing assay: Virus detection sensitivity and background nucleic acids in three different sample materials","authors":"Martin Ekman ,&nbsp;Amir Nematollahi Mahani ,&nbsp;Shambhu Ganeshappa Aralaguppe ,&nbsp;Tanja Normark ,&nbsp;Sofia Stamouli ,&nbsp;Lili Andersson-Li ,&nbsp;Dan Sun ,&nbsp;Sandra Broddesson ,&nbsp;Valtteri Wirta ,&nbsp;Niklas K. Björkström ,&nbsp;Jan Albert ,&nbsp;Tobias Allander","doi":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105882","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105882","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Metagenomic sequencing has emerged as an attractive, general, and agnostic diagnostic method, in particular for detection of viruses. However, its application faces limitations, including reduced sensitivity due to background nucleic acid content of samples, and the search for an optimized protocol is still ongoing.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We report the development of a metagenomic sequencing protocol for diagnostic use and its performance in detecting DNA and RNA viruses in three different sample materials: serum, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Sensitivity was higher for RNA viruses than for DNA viruses, and also higher in CSF than in serum and lowest in NPS. We characterized the background nucleic acids and found higher DNA than RNA levels in CSF and serum and overall highest nucleic acid levels in NPS, intermediate in serum and lowest in CSF. These differences largely explained the observed variability in sensitivity between sample preparations and sample materials.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Our results highlight the need to consider sample-type specific characteristics in efforts to improve the sensitivity of metagenomic assays e.g. via host depletion protocols.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15517,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Virology","volume":"181 ","pages":"Article 105882"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145400938","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Prevalence and epidemiology of enterovirus species in a pediatric oncology patient population","authors":"Osaretin Emmanuel Asowata ,&nbsp;Tracy McMillen ,&nbsp;Krupa Jani ,&nbsp;Brenden Clark ,&nbsp;Sejal Morjaria ,&nbsp;Mini Kamboj ,&nbsp;N.Esther Babady","doi":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105881","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105881","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Enteroviruses (EV) are associated with a range of syndromes including respiratory infections. Non-polio enteroviruses like EV-D68 can cause more severe symptoms in children, and immunocompromised individuals. The goal of this study was to determine the prevalence and genotypes of EV in a pediatric oncology patient population.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Pediatric patients (&lt;18 years old) testing positive for Rhinovirus/Enterovirus (RV/EV) by multiplexed respiratory pathogens panels between September and December 2022 and 2023 were included in the study. RV/EV positive nasopharyngeal swabs (NPS) specimens were further characterized using pan-enterovirus RT-PCR, EV-D68 RT-PCR and Whole genome sequencing (WGS). Clinical characteristics of EV positive patients and matched controls were extracted from the clinical information system.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Across the two study periods, 3.8 % (9/238) and 3.6 % (8/225) EV were identified in RV/EV positives NPS in 2022 and 2023 respectively. The most prevalent EV species were EV-D68 (3/9, 33 %) and Coxsackievirus A6 (3/9, 33 %). All three patients with EV-D68 were male with an underlying diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic lymphoma or neuroblastoma. Besides, the EV-D68 detections were only from the 2022 NPS samples. There were no differences in symptoms severity between patients with or without EV infections.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>The prevalence of EV during the study periods was low in this patient population and not associated with severe symptoms. However, further exploration is required to understand the relationship between EV infection and patient symptoms since this study was limited by the low EV detection. Larger studies are needed to further characterize EV infections in this patient population.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15517,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Virology","volume":"181 ","pages":"Article 105881"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145358013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Evaluation of cytomegalovirus cell-mediated immunity assays in the healthy Singapore cohort and challenges of test validation","authors":"Soon Hwee Ng ,&nbsp;Shireen Yan Ling Tan ,&nbsp;Su Ming Thean ,&nbsp;Poi Wah Kwek ,&nbsp;Qirong Yang ,&nbsp;Ya Yun Lim ,&nbsp;Wee Ching Ng ,&nbsp;Terrence Yi Shern Kee ,&nbsp;Ian Tatt Liew ,&nbsp;Shimin Jasmine Chung ,&nbsp;Wei Yee Wan","doi":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105858","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105858","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality for transplant and immunocompromised patients. While cell-mediated immunity (CMI) is crucial for control of CMV and can influence the management of patients, commercial kits to measure CMI responses have only recently become available. In this study, we evaluated 2 different test kit platforms to determine their performance with the aim of implementing CMV-CMI testing to serve local needs.</div></div><div><h3>Materials</h3><div>Fresh blood samples from healthy volunteers (27 CMV-IgG positives and 10 CMV-IgG negatives) were used to evaluate the performance of CMV Interferon-gamma assays, an ELISA and an ELISpot-assay (ES-a).</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Specificity was 100 % for both assays, while sensitivity was 66.67 % and 88.89 % respectively for ELISA and ES-a. For the ELISA, the mean coefficient of variations (CV) for within-run and between-run precisions were 3.8 % (1.4–7.3 %) and 15.5 % (5.6–24.7 %), respectively. The mean CV for ES-a’s within-run precisions was 14 % (7.9–21.8 %), though it was not feasible to evaluate between-run precision as blood samples collected on different days from healthy volunteers may have variable results. For ES-a, both delayed blood processing and seeding of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) at lower densities resulted in reduced spot counts but did not affect the qualitative interpretations.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>ES-a had better sensitivity compared to ELISA in our healthy cohort. Challenges faced in evaluating these assays comprised of the need for fresh blood sample and large blood volume, particularly for ES-a. Such challenges need to be considered during the implementation of similar tests for diagnostic use.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15517,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Virology","volume":"181 ","pages":"Article 105858"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145005152","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Identifying people with chronic hepatitis B virus who are lost to clinical follow up: A retrospective case finding and re-engagement service improvement exercise","authors":"Rachel Jackson ,&nbsp;Adinah Marks ,&nbsp;William L. Irving ,&nbsp;Kathryn Jack","doi":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105876","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105876","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is an important cause of liver disease-related mortality and morbidity. The World Health Organisation aims to eliminate this as a public health concern by 2030 and as such the key international guidelines recommend that all patients are reviewed regularly to observe for preventable signs of disease progression. This requires life-long engagement with specialist services, but some patients fall out of the care pathway and become lost to follow-up.</div></div><div><h3>Objectives</h3><div>This study sought to identify and re-engage patients with HBV who were lost to follow up (LTFU), defined as any HBsAg positive patient who had not been seen in the hepatology outpatient service since 31st December 2021, excluding those with acute infection.</div></div><div><h3>Study design</h3><div>A retrospective case finding and re-engagement healthcare service improvement exercise was conducted to identify and contact individuals with HBV diagnosed between June 2007 and the end of December 2021 who were lost-to-follow-up.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>One third of the HBsAg positive cohort were lost to follow-up (32.9 %, n = 506/1539). Of this group, 145 people were still living in the hospital’s catchment area, yet only 60 people could be contacted by telephone of whom 50 returned to clinic. More than 12 % of patients were HBeAg positive at their last clinic visit, and almost one quarter (23.2 %) had an abnormally raised ALT. There was extensive ethnic heterogeneity with 65 languages spoken among 474 people. We successfully re-engaged 10.07 % (51/506) back into care.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Patients with potentially progressive HBV-related liver disease are falling out of the care pathway with the attendant long-term problems that failure to control their infection may have.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15517,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Virology","volume":"181 ","pages":"Article 105876"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145220248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"More aggressive initiation of antiviral treatment contributes to blocking mother-to-child transmission of HBV DNA & RNA in neonatal umbilical cord blood","authors":"Huimin Liu ,&nbsp;Wenting Chen ,&nbsp;Yongjie Liang ,&nbsp;Jing Wang ,&nbsp;Lijian Ran ,&nbsp;Shilian Li ,&nbsp;Yi Wu ,&nbsp;Zixuan He ,&nbsp;Xuemei Kuang ,&nbsp;Jie Xia ,&nbsp;Li Jiang ,&nbsp;Xuqing Zhang ,&nbsp;Qing Mao","doi":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105875","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105875","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background and aims</h3><div>This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of expanding antiviral indications in preventing mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) by analyzing hepatitis B virus (HBV) markers in neonatal umbilical-cord-blood (UCB) samples.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>We conducted a real-world study of pregnant women aged &gt;30 years with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) who received antenatal care between January 2022 and June 2024. Maternal HBV markers at 24–28 weeks of gestation and serum biochemical parameters at delivery were obtained. For infants, HBV markers were measured in UCB at birth and in venous blood at 7–12 months of age. Logistic regression analysis was used to identify the maternal factors associated with UCB outcomes.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>A total of 171 pregnant women with CHB were included. Antiviral therapy had been started before conception in 31.0 % (53/171). At 24–28 weeks of gestation, 87.8 % (150/171) had HBV DNA &lt;5.3 Log₁₀ IU/mL, 56.1 % (96/171) had hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) &gt;3000 IU/mL and 32.7 % (56/171) were hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive. At delivery, HBeAg-negative mothers had a median age of 33.4 ± 3.1 years, compared with 32.5 ± 2.9 years for those who were HBeAg-positive, respectively (t = 1.667, <em>P</em> = 0.970). 36 of 171 (21.1 %) infants were positive for HBsAg, including 12 of 115 born to HBeAg-negative mothers and 24 of 56 born to HBeAg-positive mothers (χ² = 23.82, <em>P</em> &lt; 0.001). 41 of 171 (24.0 %) infants were positive for HBeAg, and all were born to HBeAg-positive mothers. HBV DNA and RNA were undetectable in all UCB samples, whereas hepatitis B core antibody (HBcAb) was present in every specimen. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis identified maternal HBeAg levels (AUC=0.683, cut-off value=0.494 COI) and maternal HBV DNA load (AUC=0.645, cut-off value=0.311 Log₁₀ IU/mL) as predictive of UCB HBsAg-positivity. No infants were infected with HBV, as confirmed by post-vaccination serologic testing (PVST).</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Following the expansion of antiviral therapy indications, administering therapy to pregnant women aged &gt;30 years with detectable HBV DNA effectively reduced HBsAg, HBV DNA and even HBV RNA level in infants’ UCB. Maternal HBeAg status was significantly associated with both HBsAg and HBeAg positivity in UCB.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15517,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Virology","volume":"181 ","pages":"Article 105875"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145268018","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Anti-cluster A and anti-p24 antibodies in people with multidrug-resistant HIV: Preliminary observations from the PRESTIGIO registry","authors":"Tommaso Clemente ,&nbsp;Mehdi Benlarbi ,&nbsp;Rebecka Papaioannu Borjesson ,&nbsp;Elisa Garlassi ,&nbsp;Maria Cristina Moioli ,&nbsp;Elisa Fronti ,&nbsp;Pierluigi Reali ,&nbsp;Leonardo Calza ,&nbsp;Maria Mazzitelli ,&nbsp;Andrea Giacomelli ,&nbsp;Maurizio Zazzi ,&nbsp;Maria Mercedes Santoro ,&nbsp;Andrés Finzi ,&nbsp;Antonella Castagna ,&nbsp;on behalf of the PRESTIGIO Study Group","doi":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105886","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.jcv.2025.105886","url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Introduction</h3><div>Data on soluble gp120 (sgp120) and anti-HIV antibodies are lacking in people with HIV (PWH) and multidrug resistance, characterized by high inflammation and disease burden. We aimed to investigate the relationship between immuno-virological features and sgp120, anti-cluster A, anti-p24, and anti-CD4 binding site (anti-CD4bs) antibodies in 4-class drug-resistant (4DR) individuals.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>Cross-sectional study on PWH with resistance to nucleoside and non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase, protease, and integrase inhibitors. Sgp120, anti-cluster A, anti-p24, and anti-CD4bs antibodies were measured using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. K-means clustering based on normalized anti-cluster A and anti-p24 levels identified antibody profiles. Associations with clinical variables were assessed using descriptive statistics and multinomial logistic regression.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>Overall, 80 4DR-PWH evaluated. Sgp120 and anti-CD4bs antibodies were detected in 12.5 % and 8.8 %, respectively, and not significantly associated with immuno-virological characteristics.</div><div>Based on anti-cluster A and anti-p24 levels, four PWH clusters were identified. Participants with low anti-p24 and high anti-cluster A antibodies showed more frequent detectable viremia (p = 0.018), lower CD4⁺/CD8⁺ (p = 0.044), and shorter ART duration (p = 0.025). CD4⁺ nadir (p = 0.036) followed a similar trend, except with high anti-p24 levels. Recent 4DR onset (p = 0.029) was linked to increasing anti-cluster A antibodies. At multivariable analysis, detectable viremia (p = 0.035) and ART duration (p = 0.022) remained significantly associated with cluster assignment.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>Among 4DR-PWH, a specific antibody signature characterized by high anti-cluster A and low anti-p24 levels was associated with unsuppressed viremia and, potentially, immunological impairment. These findings provide preliminary insights into the interplay between anti-HIV humoral responses and immuno-virological features in this fragile population.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":15517,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Clinical Virology","volume":"181 ","pages":"Article 105886"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2025-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145458506","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}