Investigation of BKV DNA in renal transplant patients and to retrospective evaluation of results

BKV are DNA viruses that are commonly found in societies and cause latent infection. In adult populations around the world, it is seen that BKV seroprevalence can reach up to 90%. After primary infection, the virus can remain latent in the urogenital system. In patients with renal transplantation, primary infections and reactivations caused by BKV affect about 10% of patients, and if no precautions are taken, more than half of these patients lose their kidneys due to BKV nephropathy (BKVN). BKV-DNA viral load was quantitatively examined by RT-PCR method in blood and urine samples taken from 61 patients who underwent kidney transplantation at Istanbul University Istanbul Faculty of Medicine transplantation clinic. BKV DNA viral load was determined and Qiagen EZ1 VIRUS Mini KIT V2 (Germany) kit was used for BKV DNA isolation, Artus BK Virus QS-RGQ kit 24, V1 (Germany) kit was used for RT-PCR. Of a total of 61 patients surveyed, 54.1% (33 people) were male and 45.9% (28 people) were femal. When BKV DNA positive urine and blood samples were examined, there was no significant relationship associated with gender. However, a significant relationship was observed between BKV DNA urine samples results and age. No significant correlation was found between the mean quantitative values of BKV DNA positive blood and urine samples. 1 out of 61 patients showed BK-related nephropathy, while 1 patient had non-BK-related nephropathy. Long-term administration of immunosuppressive therapy after kidney transplantation and detection of BKV DNA positivity is at risk for BKVN. Therefore, we think that after transplantation, BKV DNA quantitative viral load follow-up should be performed routinely in urine and blood samples.