Title : Parvovirus B19 infection and auto-immunity diseases

Abstract:

Human Parvovirus B19 infection is responsible for a wide range of human diseases ranging from mild erythema infectiosum in immunocompetent person to fetal loss in primary infected pregnant women and aplastic anemia or lethal cytopenias in adult immunocompromised patients. A variety of further manifestations are associated with the infection such as arthralgias, arthritis, leukopenia and thrombocytopenia, anemia and vasculitis, spontaneous abortion and hydrops fetalis in pregnant women. Both in children and adults Parvovirus B19 infections have been frequently implicated as a cause or trigger of various forms of autoimmune diseases affecting joints, connective tissue and vessels. In addition, autoimmune neutropenia, thrombocytopenia and hemolytic anemia are known as sequelae of B19 infection.

Since persistent viral infection is responsible for an autoimmune response and clinical symptoms can mimic autoimmune inflammatory disorders, parvovirus B19 is the object of intense efforts to clarify whether it is also able to trigger autoimmune diseases. Indeed, the virus has been implicated as the causative or the precipitating agent of several autoimmune disorders including rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus, antiphospholipid syndrome, systemic sclerosis and vasculitides.

Production of a variety of autoantibodies has been demonstrated to occur during B19 infection and these have been shown to be key to the pathogenesis of the particular disease process in a significant number of cases, for example, production of rheumatoid factor in cases of B19-associated rheumatoid arthritis and production of anti-glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD) in patients with B19-associated type 1 diabetes mellitus.

Molecular mimicry between host and viral proteins seems to be the main mechanism involved in the induction of autoimmunity. By means of a random peptide library approach, we have identified a peptide that shares homology with parvovirus VP1 protein and with human cytokeratin. Moreover, the VP peptide shares similarity with the transcription factor GATA1 that plays an essential role in megakaryopoiesis and in erythropoiesis. These new data sustain the role played by molecular mimicry in the induction of cross-reactive (auto)antibodies by parvovirus B19 infection.

Biography:

Majda BOURADDANE is a doctoral researcher at the Laboratory of Microbiology, Virology at the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy of Marrakech at the Cadi Ayyad University in Morocco. Graduated with a Master’s degree in Biomedical Analysis in 2007 and a Master’s degree in Microbiology and Engineering of Bio Industry in 2009 from the Faculty of Sciences and Techniques in Morocco and also with a university degree in Advanced Immunology.  She is a PhD student researcher from the CLAUDE BERNARD University of Lyon-1 2012-2016 in allergology immunology.  His research has focused on: allergy to olive pollen in Marrakech, Morocco, prevalence of E. coli in the Mediterranean marine environment and biochemical and molecular characteristics of pathogenic strains, research by PCR and RT-PCR of Enterovirus in shellfish samples. And currently his research is focused on the seroprevalence of Parvovirus B19 in pregnant women for his national doctorate.

She is currently in charge of initial and continuing training at a research and innovation centre at the Marrakech Faculty of Medicine and of practical immunology and microbiology work in the same faculty. its publications are: IgE d1 and d 2: are they both necessary for the exploration of allergy to mites, published in 2017 in the French journal of allergology and parvovirus B19 and pregnant women: a bibliographic journal published in 2021 in the open journal of obstetrics and gynecology.