Oscar Enrique Torres Montaguth from the University College London in the UK presented at London Calling 2024 on “Genomic studies of adeno-associated virus hepatitis.” The team identified AAV2 in liver/blood samples of a pediatric hepatitis outbreak in 2022. These AAVs are commonly used as vectors in gene therapy, and hepatitis can occur with treatments. The team wanted to analyze the sequences from samples from hepatitis cases following AAV gene therapy. They used a similar approach to learn about plasmids from adenoviruses. The results suggested complex structures of the plasmid structures. The researchers found similarities between the 2022 outbreak of pediatric hepatitis and hepatitis following AAV gene therapy. Torres Montaguth and team concluded that there is involvement of adeno-associated viruses (AAV) and confirmed the presence of herpesviruses in these two settings. The reasoning was that immune-mediated hepatitis with a distinctive cytokine profile had occurred. Interestingly, there is limited evidence of viral proteins. This short (four-minute) recording shared an application of Oxford Nanopore Technologies to analyze samples from hepatitis cases likely related to immune responses.
