Pooled screening for endogenous HHV-6 in subjects with coronary artery disease

Endogenous human herpesvirus 6 (eHHV-6) is integrated into the genomes of approximately 1% of individuals and has been linked to angina pectoris which, like myocardial infarction (MI), generally denotes coronary artery disease. To investigate this association further, we screened 2976 genomic DNA samples from patients with MI for eHHV-6 using multiplex qPCR. We identified 17 eHHV-6-positive individuals (0.57%), including 6 with eHHV-6A, 10 with eHHV-6B, and 1 with the solo-DR form, an eHHV-6B variant characterized by the presence of a single direct repeat (DR) within the host genome. While subjects with eHHV-6 had slightly higher total cholesterol levels, this difference was not statistically significant after correction for multiple testing. Our large-scale screening demonstrates the prevalence of eHHV-6 in MI patients and highlights the potential of this approach for studying its impact on diseases and other complex traits.