Key result
Although increased prevalence of antibodies to Ljungan virus has been detected in Swedish type 1 diabetes cases, the virus has not been isolated and its viral RNA has not been detected in patients.
While Ljungan virus is associated with diabetes in rodents and antibodies are found in Swedish type 1 diabetes patients, direct viral isolation or RNA detection in human cases remains unconfirmed.
Serologic links to Ljungan virus in type 1 diabetes lack direct confirmation; leaves open its etiologic role pending viral isolation studies.
The Ljungan virus (LV), a member of the Parechovirus genus and Picornaviridae family was isolated originally from its wild reservoir, the bank vole ( Myodes glareolus ) at the Ljungan River in central Sweden [Niklasson et al., 1999 ]. LV is associated with diseases such as myocarditis, encephalitis, pregnancy related diseases, and diabetes in several species of wild rodent [Niklasson et al., 2006 a]. The same outcomes can be induced in mice under controlled laboratory conditions [Niklasson et al., 2006b ]. Several mouse and rat animal models used to study diabetes have been found to carry LV naturally [Niklasson et al., 2007 ]. The role of the viruses in diabetes pathogenesis has been investigated by treating these animals with antiviral compounds [Holmberg et al., 2009 ]. Variation in the incidence of type 1 diabetes has been found to track the fluctuations in native rodent populations in central Sweden. Increased prevalence of antibodies to LV has been detected in Swedish type 1 diabetes cases. However, LV virus has not been isolated and its viral RNA has not been detected in type 1 diabetes. J. Med. Virol. 83:1673–1673, 2011.
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Bo Niklasson (2011) conducted a review in Type 1 diabetes. Ljungan virus (LV) was evaluated. Although increased prevalence of antibodies to Ljungan virus has been detected in Swedish type 1 diabetes cases, the virus has not been isolated and its viral RNA has not been detected in patients.
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