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Updated: Jan 28, 2026

Measurement of BK-polyomavirus Non-Coding Control Region Driven Transcriptional Activity Via Flow Cytometry
Published on: July 13, 2019
Polyomaviruses BK and JC DNA infection in peripheral blood cells from blood donors
Malihe Fathi Haghighi1, Noorossadat Seyyedi2, Ali Farhadi2
1Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, School of Paramedical Sciences, Diagnostic Laboratory Sciences and Technology Research Center, Shiraz, Iran; Shiraz Islamic Azad University, Department of Microbiology, Shiraz, Iran.
Objectives:
To investigate the prevalence of human polyomavirus (BK and JC viruses) infection in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of healthy blood donors.
Methods:
The study included 250 healthy blood donors. Five-milliliter blood was drawn into sterile EDTA tubes and PBMCs were isolated from whole blood. The isolated PBMCs were counted and stored at -70°C for future investigation. DNA was extracted and subjected to simple, sensitive and specific semi-nested PCR as well as QPCR using both general and specific primers for different assays.
Results:
Of 250 blood samples, 66 (26.4%) were positive for BKV DNA (146-34,514 copies/106 cells). JC DNA was found in 45 (18%) blood samples (65-21,250 copies/106 cells). Co-infection with these viruses were found in 11 (4.4%) out of 250 blood samples.
Discussion:
Our study provides important data on polyomavirus infection in peripheral blood mononuclear leukocytes in immunocompetent individuals. These data indicate significant differences between the prevalence of BKV and JCV infection in healthy blood donors. The prevalence of BK and JC virus infection is higher in the age range 30-39 years compared to other age ranges.
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