Increased prevalence of JC polyomavirus viruria was associated with arthritis/arthralgia in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus.

ObjectiveThe objective of this paper is to investigate the prevalence of reactivation of the human polyomavirus John Cunningham virus (JCV) in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and its associated clinical manifestations.MethodsSixty-one patients with SLE and 22 controls were enrolled. Urine JCV viral load was quantified by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Length variants of the VP1 gene were analyzed using capillary electrophoresis.ResultsThe prevalence of JCV viruria (63.9% vs. 18.2%, p  10,000 copies/ml exhibite...