HIV-associated salivary gland disease (HIV-SGD) is disfiguring
and causes significant morbidity in the HIV population.
Evidence detailing the epidemiology of HIV-SGD
suggests the involvement of a viral opportunist in its
pathogenesis, yet the specific etiology of HIV-SGD
remains unclear. To determine the role for an opportunistic
virus as the etiologic agent of HIV-SGD, we hypothesized
that HIV-SGD was a manifestation of primary
infection or reactivation with a DNA tumor virus, BKV,
during immune suppression. The central hypothesis of
this work is that viral pathogenesis is essential to the
development of salivary gland disease. Results show for
the first time that polyomavirus, BKV, is associated with
HIV-SGD. BKV DNA, RNA, and protein were consistently
detected in salivary gland biopsies and in the peripheral
blood and oral fluids from HIV-SGD patients and not in
control subjects
