Lack of evidence of mimivirus replication in human PBMCs

Abstract

The Acanthamoeba polyphaga mimivirus (APMV) was first isolated during a pneumonia outbreak in Bradford, England, and since its discovery many research groups devoted efforts to understand whether this virus could be associated to human diseases, in particular clinical signs and symptoms of pneumonia. In 2013, we observed cytopathic effect in amoebas (rounding and lysis) inoculated with APMV inoculated PBMCs (peripheral blood mononuclear cell) extracts, and at that point we interpreted those results as mimivirus replication in human PBMCs. Based on these results we decided to further investigate APMV replication in human PBMCs, by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and qPCR. No viral factory was observed in APMV inoculated PBMCs, at any analyzed time and M.O.I.s (multiplicity of infection), by checking 550 cells per condition tested. We also measured the variation of viral DNA by qPCR targeting helicase gene during the course of the TEM experiment in PBMCs, but the DNA levels stayed the same as the first time-point post infection. In summary, our newest qPCR and TEM results do not support previous statements (including ours) that mimivirus is able to replicate in humans PBMCs.