Grant: Operating Grant

Human Herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is avery common pathogen that infects children. However, this virus is unique among herpesviruses by its ability to insert is genetic material into human chromosomes. Epidemiological studies indicate 1% of of the world population (approximately 70 million individuals) carry a copy of integrated HHV-6 in every cell of their body. The virus does not insert itself at random. It selects the ends of chromosomes, a region we call telomeres. Telomeres play an important role on the long-term renewal capacity of cells, i.e. their ability to divide. Defects in telomeres are linked to many different diseases, ranging form heart disease to cancer. Although the study of HHV-6 integration is still in its infancy, studies show that the risk factor for disease is 2.3x greater if you have integrated HHV-6. The biggest handicap we face in our quest for understanding the biology of integrated HHV-6 is the lack of usable biological material and the low number of cases studied so far. Consequently, our first objective if to generate a repository of biological specimens from individuals with integrated HHV-6. To do this, we will screen blood donors in collaboration with the help of Hema-Quebec. Once we have those specimens we will study the effect of integration of cells. We will also look at the mechanisms by which this virus integrates the chromosome. Lastly, we will try to identify diseases that are linked with viral integration. To do this, we will use an existing CARTaGENE bio bank, that contains contains in-depth information on over 20 000 individuals, including sociodemographic, life-style and health data and familial history of disease, 190 physiological parameters, biochemical analyses and haematological analyses.We anticipate finding ~200 individuals with integrated virus whose medical records will be compared to control subjects.