两种人类Pegivirus致病性研究进展

Research progress in pathogenicity of two human Pegiviruses

摘要:

目前发现的人类Pegivirus病毒共有2种，这2种病毒本身致病性不强，但均具有独特的生物学特征，可能是病毒学相关研究的重要材料，值得关注。一型人类Pegivirus (the first human Pegivirus,HPgV-1)病毒被称为“good virus”，当其与艾滋病病毒和埃博拉病毒共感染时，可显著减缓相关疾病进程和疾病严重程度。近年来的研究结果发现，该病毒感染还与淋巴瘤和神经系统疾病的发生发展有关，HPgV-1可能会成为艾滋病病毒等引起的、难治愈的病毒病治疗的有效突破点。二型人类Pegivirus (the second human Pegivirus,HPgV-2)病毒于2015年在丙型肝炎患者血液中首次发现，后续研究发现其与丙型肝炎(hepatitis C virus,HCV)病毒感染密切相关，常呈现与HCV共感染，而鲜少形成单独感染。目前，对于HPgV-2与HCV的相互作用机制尚无报道。除此以外，异于大多数RNA病毒，HPgV-2基因组序列表现出高度保守性，种内变异率低，因此，该病毒可能是研究病毒基因组变异规律的理想材料。综上所述，有必要持续关注并针对这2种Pegivirus病毒开展研究。

Abstract:

The first human Pegivirus (HPgV-1) and the second human Pegivirus (HPgV-2) are the only two human Pegiviruses that have been identified until now. They share some common features including similar viral genome structure and low pathogenicity, while they also represent unique biological characteristics. HPgV-1 is called “good virus” because of its ability to slow down disease progression and reduce disease severity when co-infecting with HIV and Ebola virus. In addition, HPgV-1 was recently found to be related with lymphoma and neurological diseases. Therefore, HPgV-1 might be a possible breakthrough point in the treatment of refractory diseases caused by HIV and other viruses. HPgV-2 was firstly discovered from the plasma of a hepatitis C virus (HCV)-infected patient in 2015 and was found to always co-infect with HCV but hardly infect healthy people. However, the underlying mechanism of HPgV-2 and HCV co-infection remains to be elucidated. Distinct from most of RNA viruses, HPgV-2 exhibits low genomic diversity with high sequence identity and low intra-host variation, which give the implication of HPgV-2 as an excellent model for studying the mechanisms of viral genome variations. In conclusion, the human Pegiviruses are worthy of sustaining attention and study.