Merkel Cell Polyomavirus in Cutaneous Swabs

EID Journal Home > Volume 16, Number 4–April 2010

Volume 16, Number 4–April 2010
Dispatch
Merkel Cell Polyomavirus in Cutaneous Swabs
Vincent Foulongne, Nicolas Kluger, Olivier Dereure, Grégoire Mercier, Jean-Pierre Molès, Bernard Guillot, and Michel Segondy
Affiliations: University of Montpellier I, Montpellier, France

Suggested citation for this article

Abstract
To assess the usefulness of using cutaneous swabs to detect Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) DNA, we analyzed swabs from persons with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), others with skin diseases, and healthy volunteers. MCPyV was detected in at least 1 sample from virtually all participants. Viral loads were higher in samples from patients with MCC.

Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) is a recently identified human virus initially discovered in tumor tissues of patients with Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC), a rare but aggressive skin cancer (1). Several studies have confirmed that MCPyV DNA is present in 70%–80% of MCC tumors (1–4) and that tumoral cells in most patients show a monoclonal integration of the viral genome and expression of the large T antigen (1,5–7). Furthermore, the integrated viral genome may harbor mutations in the T-antigen coding sequence, resulting in truncation of the corresponding helicase protein (8). These data support a causal role of MCPyV in tumorogenesis. However, the tumorogenic potential of MCPyV remains unclear because the MCPyV genome cannot be detected in 20%–30% of MCC tumors, whereas MCPyV DNA has been consistently identified in persons with other disorders or in the skin of healthy persons (9–12).

Most studies of MCPyV DNA detection in skin samples have been performed on biopsy samples. We assessed the relevance of using cutaneous swabbing instead of full-skin tissue samples for viral MCPyV DNA detection. Overall, our results show that MCPyV DNA was detected in cutaneous swabs from almost all study participants, which indicated that MCPyV is likely a ubiquitous virus.

Suggested Citation for this Article
Foulongne V, Kluger N, Dereure O, Mercier G, Molès J-P, Guillot B, et al. Merkel cell polyomavirus in cutaneous swabs. Emerg Infect Dis [serial on the Internet]. 2010 Apr [date cited]. http://www.cdc.gov/EID/content/16/4/685.htm

DOI: 10.3201/eid1604.091278

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http://www.cdc.gov/eid/content/16/4/685.htm