Molecular characterization of a JC virus (Sap-1) clone derived from a cerebellar form of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.

Progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) is a demyelinating disease caused by polyomavirus JC (JCV). In the majority of cases of PML the cerebrum is mainly affected (cerebral PML) but on rare occasions lesions are restricted to the cerebellum and brain stem (cerebellar PML). We report a rare cerebellar PML case which occurred in a Japanese patient undergoing prolonged hemodialysis treatment. To understand the molecular basis of the viral tissue tropism, we molecularly cloned JCV DNA and compared it with those of cerebral PML. Of ten clones analyzed nine showed identical fragment patterns after digestion with various restriction endonucleases, and we designated these clones Sap-1. It could be shown that the basic structures of the regulatory regions are similar between Sap-1 and isolates from cerebral PML. Restriction endonuclease mapping analysis was used to examine the genetic relationship between Sap-1 and urine-derived isolates containing the archetypal regulatory sequence. We found that Sap-1 was genetically related to an archetypal JCV isolate in Japan.