Investigation of Oral Shedding of Torquetenovirus (TTV) in Moderate-to-Severe COVID-19 Hospitalised Patients

  1. Caixeta, Rafael Antônio Velôso
  2. Batista, Alexandre Mendes
  3. Caetano, Matheus Willian
  4. Palmieri, Michelle
  5. Schwab, Gabriela
  6. Zerbinati, Rodrigo Melim
  7. Victor, Andressa Silva Pereira
  8. Gallo, Camila de Barros
  9. Tozetto-Mendoza, Tânia Regina
  10. Junges, Roger
  11. Ortega, Karem L.
  12. Costa, André Luiz Ferreira
  13. Sarmento, Dmitry José de Santana
  14. Pallos, Débora
  15. Lindoso, José Angelo Lauletta
  16. Giannecchini, Simone
  17. Braz-Silva, Paulo Henrique
Revista:
Viruses

ISSN: 1999-4915

Ano de publicación: 2024

Volume: 16

Número: 6

Páxinas: 831

Tipo: Artigo

DOI: 10.3390/V16060831 GOOGLE SCHOLAR lock_openAcceso aberto editor

Outras publicacións en: Viruses

Resumo

Background. Torquetenovirus (TTV) is a small DNA virus constituting the human virome. High levels of TTV-DNA have been shown to be associated with immunosuppression and inflammatory chronic disorders. Aim. To assess the possible association between the salivary viral load of TTV-DNA in patients hospitalised due to COVID-19 and disease severity. Methods. Saliva samples collected from 176 patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 were used to investigate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 and TTV-DNA by use of real-time RT-PCR. Results. The majority of patients were male with severe COVID-19. Presence of SARS-CoV-2 was observed in the saliva of 64.77% of patients, showing TTV-DNA in 55.68% of them. Patients with impaired clinical conditions (p < 0.001), which evolved to death (p = 0.003), showed a higher prevalence of TTV-DNA. The median viral load in patients with severe condition was 4.99 log10 copies/mL, in which those who were discharged and those evolving to death had values of 3.96 log10 copies/mL and 6.27 log10 copies/mL, respectively. A statistically significant association was found between the distribution of TTV-DNA viral load in saliva samples and severity of COVID-19 (p = 0.004) and disease outcomes (p < 0.001). Conclusions. These results indicate that TTV-DNA in saliva could be a useful biomarker of COVID-19 severity and prognosis.