Trichodysplasia spinulosa-associated polyomavirus

Trichodysplasia spinulosa-associated polyomavirus (TSV) is a type of human polyomavirus. It is associated with trichodysplasia spinulosa, a rare skin disease only seen in immunocompromized patients. The virus was first described in July 2010.^[1] Trichodysplasia spinulosa had been long suspected to be associated with viral infection, particularly a polyomavirus infection, by electron microscopic studies.^[2] The Feltkamp laboratory at Leiden University Medical Center, Holland, isolated this virus' DNA using rolling circle amplification. TSV is actually an extremely common component of human viral skin flora.^[3] Unlike Merkel cell carcinoma caused mostly by Merkel cell polyomavirus, trichodysplasia spinulosa is a dysplasia rather than a neoplasia and TSV appears to be actively replicating in the tumors. Thus, antiviral therapies currently available may have benefit in this disorder. TSV is the eighth human polyomavirus to be discovered.

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