BK virus as a potential oncovirus for bladder cancer in a renal transplant patient

Renal transplant patients have high risk for bladder cancer. The reactivation of BK virus is common in renal transplant patients especially in the urinary tract. There was some evidence suggesting that the reactivation of BK virus (BKV) in renal transplant patients may associate with the development of bladder cancer. Here we demonstrated that a patient that had persistent elevated BKV viruria (urine BKV DNA concentration more than 10¹¹ copies/ml) after renal transplantation. Then, bladder cancer was found in 13 months after kidney transplantation. The urine BKV DNA concentration was detected by real-time PCR and the BKV DNA in the bladder tumor was detected by PCR. BKV DNA was found in the marginal and central part of the bladder tumor. After removal of the bladder cancer, the urine BKV viral load in this patients dropped dramatically to <10² copies/ml. However, the urine viral load had increased modestly to 10⁶ copies/ml in 3 months after surgery. Since there is a close correlation between the urine BK viral load and the presence of bladder cancer, we suggested that there might be a causal relationship between the reactivation of BKV and the development of bladder cancer in renal transplant patient.