Detection of HHV-5 HHV-6a HHV-6b and HHV-7 in the urine: potential use as a non-invasive diagnostic tool for immune profiling

Shelia Govind; Pierre Olivier Lang; Alexander Bürkle; María Moreno-Villanueva; Claudio Franceschi; Miriam Capri; Jurgen Bernard; Birgit Weinberger; Beatrix Grubeck-Loebenstein; Simone Fiegl; Efstathios S Gonos; Ewa Sikora; Eugène Jansen; Martijn E T Dollé; Tilman Grune; Nicolle Breusing; Richard Aspinall

doi:10.1186/s12979-024-00490-9

Detection of HHV-5 HHV-6a HHV-6b and HHV-7 in the urine: potential use as a non-invasive diagnostic tool for immune profiling

Immun Ageing. 2024 Nov 29;21(1):84. doi: 10.1186/s12979-024-00490-9.

Authors

Shelia Govind¹, Pierre Olivier Lang², Alexander Bürkle³, María Moreno-Villanueva^{3

4}, Claudio Franceschi⁵, Miriam Capri^{6

7}, Jurgen Bernard⁸, Birgit Weinberger⁹, Beatrix Grubeck-Loebenstein⁹, Simone Fiegl¹⁰, Efstathios S Gonos¹¹, Ewa Sikora¹², Eugène Jansen¹³, Martijn E T Dollé¹⁴, Tilman Grune¹⁵, Nicolle Breusing¹⁶, Richard Aspinall¹⁷

Affiliations

¹ Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), South Mimms Laboratories, Potters Bar, UK.
² Genolier Clinic, Genolier, Switzerland.
³ Molecular Toxicology Group, Department of Biology, University of Konstanz, Box 628, Konstanz, 78457, Germany.
⁴ Human Performance Research Centre, Department of Sport Science, University of Konstanz, Box 30, Konstanz, 78457, Germany.
⁵ Institute of Biogerontology, Lobachevsky State University, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.
⁶ Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Bologna-Alma Mater Studiorum, Bologna, Italy.
⁷ Alma Mater Research Institute On Global Challenges and Climate Change (Alma Climate), University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
⁸ BioTeSyS GmbH, Essliongen, Germany.
⁹ Institute for Biomedical Aging Research, Universität Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria.
¹⁰ UMIT TIROL, Innsbruck, Austria.
¹¹ NHRF, Institute of Biology, Athens, Greece.
¹² Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland.
¹³ Centre for Health Protection, National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, PO Box 1, 3720 BA Bilthoven, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
¹⁴ National Institute for Public Health and the Environment, Utrecht, The Netherlands.
¹⁵ Department of Molecular Toxicology, German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke (DIfE), Nuthetal, 14558, Germany.
¹⁶ Department of Applied Nutritional Science/Dietetics, Institute of Nutritional Medicine, University of Hohenheim, 70599, Stuttgart, Germany.
¹⁷ Centre for Intelligent Healthcare, Coventry University, Priory Street, COVENTRY, CV1 5FB, Conventry, UK. ac8908@coventry.ac.uk.

Abstract

Decline in immune function with age has been studied extensively, but approaches to immune restoration have been hampered by the lack of simple methods of identifying individuals whose immune system is in decline. Our approach has been to identify individuals whose immune decline has led to a loss of control of common latent viral infections and their consequent reactivation. Viruses excreted in urine were detected and quantified and we believe this approach could provide a 'surrogate marker' for identifying immune compromised individuals. Here we report the detection of human herpes virus (HHV) 5, 6a, 6b and 7 in the urine of healthy individuals over a wide age range and their correlation with T cell receptor excision circle (TREC) data. The results did not show a clear correlation between TREC values and the detection of individual specific viruses or viral load values when measured singly. However, a correlation was found between low TREC values and the detection of several different human herpes viruses in the urine in males. We present evidence suggesting that for males, the detection of three or more different human herpes viruses in the urine could identify individuals with declining immune function as evidenced by their significantly lower TREC levels.

Keywords: Human Herpes Virus; T cell receptor excision circles.