Adenovirus serotype 36
|Adenovirus serotype 36|
|Group:||Group I (dsDNA)|
|Species:||Human adenovirus D (HAdV-D)|
Human adenovirus 36 (HAdV-36) or Ad-36 or Adv36 is one of 52 types of adenoviruses known to infect humans. AD-36 was first isolated in 1978 from the feces of a girl suffering from diabetes and enteritis, and has long been recognized as a cause of respiratory and eye infections in humans. It was first shown to be associated with obesity in chickens by Dr. Nikhil Dhurandhar.
Role in obesity
There has been a positive correlation between body fat and the presence of AD-36 antibodies in the blood. Previous research showed that chickens or mice injected with similar types of viruses show a statistically significant weight gain.
To date, AD-36 is the only human adenovirus that has been linked with human obesity, present in 30% of obese humans and 11% of nonobese humans. In addition, a study of obese Americans indicates that about 30% of the obese individuals and only 5% of non-obese individuals have antibodies to Ad-36. Another study determined that children with the virus averaged 52 pounds heavier than those with no signs of it and obese children with the virus averaged 35 pounds heavier than obese children with no trace of the virus. AD-36 also causes obesity in chickens, mice, rats, and monkeys.
On March 18, 2006 the research of Richard Atkinson (University of Wisconsin) was posted on some websites. In those studies, blood tests conducted on over 2000 Australians showed that more than 20% of the study participants had contracted Ad-36 viral infection.
On January 26, 2009, many popular internet news portals ran reports of the pending release of scientific research by Professor Nikhil Dhurandhar (Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Louisiana) implicating AD-36 as a potential cause for Britain's relatively high rate of adult obesity.
- Pasarica M, Dhurandhar NV (2007). "Infectobesity: obesity of infectious origin". Adv. Food Nutr. Res. Advances in Food and Nutrition Research. 52: 61–102. doi:10.1016/S1043-4526(06)52002-9. ISBN 9780123737113. PMID 17425944.
- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/08/070820103224.htm Common virus may contribute to obesity in some people
- Dhurandhar NV, Israel BA, Kolesar JM, Mayhew GF, Cook ME, Atkinson RL (August 2000). "Increased adiposity in animals due to a human virus". Int. J. Obes. Relat. Metab. Disord. 24 (8): 989–96. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0801319. PMID 10951537.
- Whigham, Leah D.; Barbara A. Israel; Richard L. Atkinson (2006). "Adipogenic potential of multiple human adenoviruses in vivo and in vitro in animals". Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol. 290 (1): R190–4. doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00479.2005. PMID 16166204.
- Rogers PM, Fusinski KA, Rathod MA, et al. (2007). "Human adenovirus Ad-36 induces adipogenesis via its E4 orf-1 gene". Int J Obes (Lond). 32 (3): 397–406. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0803748. PMID 17984979.
- Augustus A.S., Atkinson R.L.; Dhurandhar N.V.; Allison D.B.; Bowen R.L.; Israel B.A.; Albu J.B. (2005). "Human adenovirus-36 is associated with increased body weight and paradoxical reduction of serum lipids". International Journal of Obesity. 29 (3): 281–6. doi:10.1038/sj.ijo.0802830. PMID 15611785.
- Atkinson RL (2007). "Viruses as an etiology of obesity". Mayo Clin. Proc. 82 (10): 1192–8. doi:10.4065/82.10.1192. PMID 17908526.
- Ostrow, Nicole (20 September 2010). "Children Exposed to Virus Weigh 52 pounds More, Obesity Researchers Find". Bloomberg.
- "Obesity Bug You Can Catch", Daily Express, 26 January 2009
"Obesity Caught Like Common Cold", LiveScience, 26 January 2009
- "The Fat Virus: Could Obesity Be Contagious?" at WebMD
- "Can a virus make you fat?" at BBC News
- "Fat Plague - Documentary" at 4oD
- "Contagious obesity? Identifying the human adenoviruses that may make us fat" at Science Blog
- "Common virus may contribute to obesity in some people, new study shows" at Biology News Net
- "Adenovirus 36 and Obesity" at Adenovirus.com
- "Fat Virus, Ad-36 Blamed For Obesity Epidemic In Australians" at Medindia