Increased plasma cell-free DNA level during HTNV infection: correlation with disease severity and virus load

Cell-free DNA (cf-DNA) in blood represents a promising DNA damage response triggered by virus infection or trauma, tumor, etc. Hantavirus primarily causes two diseases: haemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) and Hantavirus cardiopulmonary syndrome (HCPS), depending on different Hantavirus species. The aim of this study was to evaluate plasma cf-DNA levels in acute phase of HFRS, and to correlate plasma cf-DNA with disease severity and plasma Hanttan virus (HTNV) load. We observed the appearance of cf-DNA in 166 plasma samples from 76 HFRS patients: the plasma cf-DNA levels peaked at the hypotensive stage of HFRS, and then decreased gradually. Until the diuretic stage, there was no significant difference in plasma cf-DNA level between patients and the healthy control. Exclusively in the febrile/hypotensive stage, the plasma cf-DNA levels of severe/critical patients were higher than those of the mild/moderate group. Moreover, the plasma cf-DNA value in the early stage of HFRS was correlated with HTNV load and disease severity. In most of the patients, plasma cf-DNA displayed a low-molecular weight appearance, corresponding to the size of apoptotic DNA. In conclusion, the plasma cf-DNA levels were dynamically elevated during HFRS, and correlated with disease severity, which suggests that plasma cf-DNA may be a potential biomarker for the pathogenesis and prognosis of HFRS.