فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Several new types of polyomavirus have been discovered in recent years mainly because of the recent state-of-the-artdetection technologies. Among the polyomaviruses, Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV) has attracted the most attention because ofits possible role in the etiology of Merkel cell carcinoma, a rare but lethal form of skin cancer.Objectives: This study aimed to determine age-specific seroprevalence of MCPyV in Tehran.Patients and Methods: In this cross-sectional study, we collected 440 serum samples from healthy individuals 2 to 78 years of agewho visited the Pasteur Institute’s clinic in Tehran, Iran, using a convenience sampling strategy. We developed a virus-like particlebasedenzyme-linked immunosorbent assay that uses VP1, the major capsid protein of MCPyV, to detect and quantitate serum antibodiesto MCPyV.We compared the prevalence of MCPyV between males and females and across eight age groups.Results: A total of 255 (57.9%) of the serum samples were MCPyV positive. The seroprevalence in children under 10 years of agewas 25%. The seroprevalence increased to 56% over the next decade of life (10 - 19 years of age). The seroprevalence rate in malesand females was 56.1% and 59.7% respectively, and a binary logistic regression showed no significant difference between males andfemales (P = 0.77). However, the prevalence of MCPyV increased with age (P = 0.012).Conclusions: Our results suggest that human exposure to MCPyV occurs throughout life. The MCPyV antibody levels remainedhigh among older adults in our population, consistent with reports from other populations.