Brain Virome in Neurodegenerative Disorders: Insights from Transcriptomic Data Analysis
Abstract
Neurodegenerative disorders (NDs) are chronic ailments of the central nervous system that gradually deteriorate the structures and functions of neurons. The etiologies of NDs include genetic factors, aging, infections, starvation, brain trauma, and spinal cord injury, among others. However, it is unclear whether viral infections impact the prognosis of NDs or contribute to their development. Hence, we investigated the prevalence of neurotropic viruses in brain samples by using transcriptomic data. A total of 1635 viral isolates with complete genomic information was used to investigate the incidence of 18 distinct viruses across 129 data sets from healthy and ND subjects. Our findings support the evidence pointing to the existence of a brain virome where certain viruses co-occur. We further hypothesize that distinct virome profiles are linked to different forms of NDs.
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These findings, along with reports of a latent brain virome, suggest the brain is not sterile and may harbor various microorganisms.
“These findings, along with reports of a latent brain virome [136,137], suggest the brain is not sterile and may harbor various microorganisms.”
From What would it take to prove that a chronic infection is a causal agent in Alzheimer’s disease? (2025) · cites this paper as [136]
Cites
Bjornevik, K., Cortese, M., Healy, B. C., Kuhle, J., Mina, M. J., Leng, Y., Elledge, S. J., Niebuhr, D. W., Scher, A. I., Munger, K. L., et al. (2022) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.abj8222 · Cited by 2,049 · see citing works
Understanding the Role of Systemic Inflammation in Alzheimer’s Disease
Walker, K. A., Ficek, B. N., & Westbrook, R. (2019) · ACS Chemical Neuroscience · doi:10.1021/acschemneuro.9b00333 · Cited by 259 · see citing works
The viral hypothesis: how herpesviruses may contribute to Alzheimer’s disease
Wainberg, M., Luquez, T., Koelle, D. M., Readhead, B., Johnston, C., Darvas, M., & Funk, C. C. (2021) · Molecular Psychiatry · doi:10.1038/s41380-021-01138-6 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
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What would it take to prove that a chronic infection is a causal agent in Alzheimer’s disease?
Brutkiewicz, R. R., Cao, W., Morgan, D., Reis, R. S. D., Suryadevara, V., Willette, A. A., Willette, S. A., Wyatt-Johnson, S. K., & Duggan, M. R. (2025) · Trends in Neurosciences · doi:10.1016/j.tins.2025.05.009 · Cited by 3 · see citing works
- Authors
- Balakrishnan, B., Arul, S. S., Ravindran, A., & Venkataraman, S.
- Affiliations
- Anna University, Chennai (IN)
- Corresponding author
- Venkataraman, Sangita
- Venue
- ACS Chemical Neuroscience
- Publisher
- American Chemical Society (ACS)
- Published
- 2023-10-09
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 22
- Pages
- 3979-3985
- ISSN
- 1948-7193 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W4387440385
- Cited by
- 7
- References
- 3
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 4 · 2024: 2
- FWCI
- 1.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Licence
- Locations
- ACS Chemical Neuroscience (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- University Grants Commission
- Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India (BT/PR40163/BTIS/137/31/2021)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Bacteriophages and microbial interactions
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Neuroinflammation and Neurodegeneration Mechanisms
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Epidemiology › Virology and Viral Diseases
- Keywords
- neurodegenerative diseases, neurotropic viruses, gene expression profiling
- MeSH terms
- Data Analysis, Virome, Brain, Humans, Viruses, Neurodegenerative Diseases, Gene Expression Profiling
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