Key result
Higher Torque teno virus load linked to ~37% greater risk of severe infections requiring hospitalization.
Why the study?
While Torque teno virus viral loads may reflect the net state of immunosuppression early after solid organ transplantation, its role in long-term kidney transplant recipients is less clear.
Is higher baseline Torque teno virus viral load associated with increased risk of severe infections requiring hospitalisation in long-term kidney transplant recipients?
Cohort (n=171)
Single-blind
No
Is higher baseline Torque teno virus viral load associated with increased risk of severe infections requiring hospitalisation in long-term kidney transplant recipients?
Elevated baseline Torque teno virus viral load is associated with an increased risk of severe infections requiring hospitalisation in long-term kidney transplant recipients.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Higher TTV load may flag infection risk; leaves open prospective validation before guiding care.
BACKGROUND: Torque teno virus (TTV) viral loads may reflect patients' net state of immunosuppression and identify patients at risk of infections and rejection early after solid organ transplantation. However, its role in long-term kidney recipients (KTRs) is less clear. METHODS: This single-centre prospective cohort study evaluated the association between TTV viral load at recruitment and severe infections requiring hospitalisation within 12 months as the primary outcome in kidney recipients > 1-year post-transplant and on stable immunosuppression for > 3 months. Participants were followed up for 12 months, until change of immunosuppression, graft loss, or death. Pre-specified, exploratory secondary outcomes, including opportunistic infections, malignancy, composite outcomes were also analysed. RESULTS: Median time after transplant amongst the 171 included participants was 10.3 years (interquartile range (IQR) 4.9-16.0). Thirty-one developed severe infections 105 days (IQR 65-204) after baseline TTV measurement. Higher baseline log10-transformed TTV viral load (logTTV) was associated with severe infections within 12 months (odds ratio (OR) 1.37, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01-1.86, p = 0.045) with a modest area under receiver operating characteristics curve of 0.60 (95% CI 0.50-0.71). Compared to logTTV < 4.6 copies/mL, logTTV > 6.6 copies/mL (hazard ratio (HR) 3.45, 95% CI 1.10-10.9, p = 0.04) was associated with time to hospitalisations for infections but not logTTV 4.6-6.6 copies/mL (HR 2.30, 95% CI 0.97-5.47, p = 0.06). The ORs for the association between logTTV and malignancy, opportunistic infection and biopsy-proven rejection were 1.86 (95% CI 1.09-3.16), 1.21 (95% CI 0.69-2.13) and 1.09 (95% CI 0.70-1.69) respectively. CONCLUSION: Elevated TTV viral loads were associated with severe infections amongst our cohort of long-term KTRs and may be a useful biomarker in this population.
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Ho et al. (2026) conducted a cohort in Kidney transplant (n=171). Torque teno virus (TTV) viral load vs. Lower TTV viral load was evaluated on Severe infections requiring hospitalisation within 12 months (OR 1.37, 95% CI 1.01-1.86, p=0.045). Higher baseline log10-transformed Torque teno virus viral load was associated with an increased risk of severe infections requiring hospitalisation within 12 months (OR 1.37).
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