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Cited by 119Alzheimer's disease research and treatmentsViral-associated cancers and disordersCytomegalovirus and herpesvirus research

Human Herpesvirus 6 Detection in Alzheimer’s Disease Cases and Controls across Multiple Cohorts

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Allnutt, Mary Alice, Johnson, Kory, Bennett, David A., Connor, Sarah M., Troncoso, Juan C., Pletnikova, Olga, Albert, Marilyn S., Resnick, Susan M. +3 more·2020·Neuron
DOI 10.1016/j.neuron.2019.12.031PMC PMC7182308
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Abstract

The interplay between viral infection and Alzheimer's disease (AD) has long been an area of interest, but proving causality has been elusive. Several recent studies have renewed the debate concerning the role of herpesviruses, and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) in particular, in AD. We screened for HHV-6 detection across three independent AD brain repositories using (1) RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) datasets and (2) DNA samples extracted from AD and non-AD control brains. The RNA-seq data were screened for pathogens against taxon references from over 25,000 microbes, including 118 human viruses, whereas DNA samples were probed for PCR reactivity to HHV-6A and HHV-6B. HHV-6 demonstrated little specificity to AD brains over controls by either method, whereas other viruses, such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and cytomegalovirus (CMV), were detected at comparable levels. These direct methods of viral detection do not suggest an association between HHV-6 and AD.

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  • Recent analyses of post-mortem samples indicate HHV6 may be more abundant in the brains of AD individuals, but these results were contrasted by a re-analysis of the same samples using different bioinformatic techniques.

    “Although recent analyses of post-mortem samples indicate HHV6 may be more abundant in the brains of AD individuals, these results were contrasted by a re-analysis of the same samples using different bioinformatic techniques [43,44].”

    From What would it take to prove that a chronic infection is a causal agent in Alzheimer’s disease? (2025) · cites this paper as [43]

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Authors
Allnutt, M. A., Johnson, K., Bennett, D. A., Connor, S. M., Troncoso, J. C., Pletnikova, O., Albert, M. S., Resnick, S. M., Scholz, S. W., De Jager, P. L., & Jacobson, S.
Affiliations
  • National Institutes of Health (US)
  • Rush University (US)
  • Columbia University Irving Medical Center (US)
  • Johns Hopkins University (US)
Corresponding author
Jacobson, Steven
ORCID
Venue
Neuron
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2020-03
Volume
105
Issue
6
Pages
1027-1035.e2
ISSN
0896-6273 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.neuron.2019.12.031
PMC
PMC7182308
OpenAlex
W3001009907
Cited by
119
References
58
Citations by year
2026: 13 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 26 · 2021: 27 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 1
FWCI
12.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Neuron (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (ZIA-NS003154)
  • Illinois Department of Public Health
  • Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
  • National Institutes of Health
  • National Institute on Aging (P30AG10161, R01AG15819, R01AG17917, R01AG30146, R01AG36836, U01AG32984, U01AG46152, U01AG61356)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Physiology › Alzheimer's disease research and treatments
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Viral-associated cancers and disorders
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Cytomegalovirus and herpesvirus research
Keywords
human herpesvirus 6, Alzheimer's disease, viral infection, HHV-6A, HHV-6B, Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, multi-cohort analysis
MeSH terms
Alzheimer Disease, Brain, Female, Humans, Male, Cohort Studies, Herpesvirus 6, Human, Case-Control Studies, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Sequence Analysis, RNA

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