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Are human herpes viruses or measles virus associated with esophageal achalasia?

  • Esophageal, Gastric, And Duodenal Disorders
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Abstract

In order to test the hypothesis that esophageal achalasia may be due to neurotropic viral damage to the esophageal myenteric plexus, esophageal tissue with or without achalasia was analyzed by polymerase chain reaction for the presence of human herpes virus DNA or measles virus RNA. The DNA and RNA were extracted from the esophageal muscle of 12 patients with achalasia and six patients with upper esophageal carcinoma. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from eight adult volunteers and two samples of umbilical blood mononuclear cells were also used as controls. PCR amplification with a pair of primers specific for herpes simplex type 1 and 2 viruses identified 92-bp fragments in nearly all specimens, including those without achalasia. Each 92-bp fragment was confirmed to be identical to a single herpes simplex virus sequence by automated DNA sequence analysis. No amplification for five other herpes viruses or measles virus was detected. Therefore, a specific viral etiology for achalasia was not identified in this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. From the First Department of Surgery, Hyogo College of Medicine 1-1, Mukogawa-cho, Nishinomiya, 663, Hyogo, Japan

    Hirofumi Niwamoto MD, PhD, Eizo Okamoto MD, PhD,  Jiro Fujimoto MD, PhD, Masaharu Takeuchi MD, Jun-Ichi Furuyama PhD & Yoshihiro Yamamoto PhD

  2. Department of Genetics, Hyogo College of Medicine, Japan

    Hirofumi Niwamoto MD, PhD, Eizo Okamoto MD, PhD,  Jiro Fujimoto MD, PhD, Masaharu Takeuchi MD, Jun-Ichi Furuyama PhD & Yoshihiro Yamamoto PhD

Authors
  1. Hirofumi Niwamoto MD, PhD
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  2. Eizo Okamoto MD, PhD
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  3. Jiro Fujimoto MD, PhD
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  4. Masaharu Takeuchi MD
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  5. Jun-Ichi Furuyama PhD
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  6. Yoshihiro Yamamoto PhD
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Niwamoto, H., Okamoto, E., Fujimoto, J. et al. Are human herpes viruses or measles virus associated with esophageal achalasia?. Digest Dis Sci 40, 859–864 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02064992

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02064992

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