This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Newborns with common herpes virus may have increased risk for ALL
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
Newborns with congenital cytomegalovirus, a common herpes virus, may have an increased risk for developing acute lymphoblastic leukemia, according to research published in Blood.
Hispanic children may have an even greater risk, the study showed.
“Our goal in tracking cytomegalovirus (CMV) back from the time of diagnosis to the womb was to establish that this infection occurred well before initiation of the disease,” Stephen S. Francis, PhD, assistant professor of epidemiology at the University of Nevada and University of California, San Francisco, said in a press release. “If it’s truly that in-utero CMV is one of the initiating events in the development of childhood leukemia, then control of the virus has the potential to be a prevention target. That’s the real take-home message.”
CMV is a common virus that infects more than 90% of adults worldwide and is most prevalent in Hispanic and black individuals. The virus is usually dormant, causing few symptoms. However, during pregnancy, the virus can be transmitted to the fetus and is a leading cause of birth defects, specifically hearing loss.
Researchers have hypothesized that CMV infection plays a role in childhood ALL, which typically develops in children between the ages of 2 and 6 years. This was the first study tracking ALL back to a specific virus.
Francis and colleagues first identified all known infections in the bone marrow of 127 children diagnosed with ALL and compared results with 38 children diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. These comprehensive untargeted virome and bacterial analyses showed CML infection was prevalent in childhood ALL, with active viral transcription in leukemia blasts and intact virions in serum.
Researchers then used a digital droplet screen to examine for CMV in blood samples of 268 newborns who went on to develop ALL compared with samples from 270 healthy children.
Children who went on to develop ALL were 3.71 times (OR = 3.71; 95% CI, 1.56-7.92) more likely to be CMV positive at birth than those who did not develop ALL.
Moreover, ethnic stratification showed the risk for ALL was greater among newborn Hispanic children infected with CMV (OR = 5.9; 95% CI, 1.9-26) than among non-Hispanic white children infected with CMV (OR = 2.1; 95% CI, 0.69-7.13).
There was no significant difference in the age at ALL diagnosis between those who were CMV positive and negative (mean age, 4.8 years vs. 5.15 years).
Researchers noted the ability to primarily detect active infections as a limitation to their methods. Francis said he is hopeful his team’s research leads to further studies and the eventual development of a CMV vaccine.
“This is the first step,” he said, “but if we do end up finding a causal link to the most common childhood cancer, we hope that will light a fire in terms of stopping mother-to-child transmission of CMV.” – by Chuck Gormley
Disclosure: Researchers reported no relevant financial disclosures.
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts