Xenotropic Murine leukemia related virus (XMRV) in Iranian HIV Patients

Background and Aims: Despite isolation of Xenotropic murine leukaemia related virus (XMRV) from the patients with prostate cancer in 2006 and patients with chronic fatigue syndrome in 2009, there have been controversial findings about its potential role in human diseases and frequencies in different population groups. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of XMRV genome in Iranian HIV-infected patients for the first time. Materials and Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study on the prevalence of XMRV nucleic acid among 150 patients diagnosed with HIV infection in Tehran’s hospitals. After extracting the viral RNA from plasma samples, nucleic acid was amplified by Real-Time PCR using XMRV specific primers. HIV viral load testing was performed for all of the patients as well. Results: Out of 150 patients, XMRV RNA was found in 13 (8.6 %) of patient's specimens, including 9 males (69/2%) and 4 females (30/8%). Average HIV viral load was 14471.92 and 17016.66 copies/ml in positive and negative XMRV patients, respectively. Conclusions: Our results showed the presence of XMRV infection in HIV-infected patients. No other significant association was observed between XMRV with gender, age and HIV viral load of the patients. However, more studies are needed to demonstrate the actual prevalence of XMRV infection by geographical regions and different populations.