Review: JC virus infection of lymphocytes--revisited.

JC virus (JCV), the causative agent of the fatal human demyelinating disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), is an opportunistic papovavirus that infects and destroys oligodendrocytes, the myelin-producing cells of the central nervous system. Since its isolation from the brain of a PML patient, JCV has long been classed as a neurotropic virus. Many studies, however, have demonstrated that JCV can infect various other cell types, including immune system cells. Moreover, several recent studies have focused specifically on lymphocytes as a target of JCV. This review chronicles the association of JCV with lymphocytes, including cell type localization, molecular regulation, and viral sequences, and discusses clinical implications of these findings.