Immunohistochemical detection of virus through its nuclear cytopathic effect in idiopathic interstitial pneumonia other than acute exacerbation.
Braz J Med Biol Res 2013;
46:985-992. [PMID:
24270907 PMCID:
PMC3854334 DOI:
10.1590/1414-431x20132885]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2013] [Accepted: 08/26/2013] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Idiopathic interstitial pneumonias include complex diseases that have a strong
interaction between genetic makeup and environmental factors. However, in many cases,
no infectious agent can be demonstrated, and these clinical diseases rapidly progress
to death. Theoretically, idiopathic interstitial pneumonias could be caused by the
Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, adenovirus, hepatitis C virus, respiratory
syncytial virus, and herpesvirus, which may be present in such small amounts or such
configuration that routine histopathological analysis or viral culture techniques
cannot detect them. To test the hypothesis that immunohistochemistry provides more
accurate results than the mere histological demonstration of viral inclusions, this
method was applied to 37 open lung biopsies obtained from patients with idiopathic
interstitial pneumonias. As a result, immunohistochemistry detected measles virus and
cytomegalovirus in diffuse alveolar damage-related histological patterns of acute
exacerbation of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and nonspecific interstitial pneumonia
in 38 and 10% of the cases, respectively. Alveolar epithelium infection by
cytomegalovirus was observed in 25% of organizing pneumonia patterns. These findings
were coincident with nuclear cytopathic effects but without demonstration of
cytomegalovirus inclusions. These data indicate that diffuse alveolar damage-related
cytomegalovirus or measles virus infections enhance lung injury, and a direct
involvement of these viruses in diffuse alveolar damage-related histological patterns
is likely. Immunohistochemistry was more sensitive than the histological
demonstration of cytomegalovirus or measles virus inclusions. We concluded that all
patients with diffuse alveolar damage-related histological patterns should be
investigated for cytomegalovirus and measles virus using sensitive
immunohistochemistry in conjunction with routine procedures.
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