Human adenovirus 36 (HAdV-36) or Ad-36 or Adv36 is one of 52 types of
adenoviruses known to infect
human
Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, cultu ...
s. AD-36, first isolated in 1978 from the feces of a girl suffering from diabetes and enteritis, has long been recognized as a cause of respiratory and eye infections in humans.
It was first shown to be associated with
obesity
Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's ...
in
chicken
The chicken (''Gallus gallus domesticus'') is a domesticated junglefowl species, with attributes of wild species such as the grey and the Ceylon junglefowl that are originally from Southeastern Asia. Rooster or cock is a term for an adu ...
s by Dr.
Nikhil Dhurandhar.
AD-36 infection can induce
cellular differentiation of
3T3-L1 3T3-L1 is a cell line derived from (mouse) 3T3 cells that is used in biological research on adipose tissue. 3T3-L1 cells have a fibroblast-like morphology, but, under appropriate conditions, the cells differentiate into an adipocyte-like phenotyp ...
preadipocytes and
stem cells derived from human
adipose tissue
Adipose tissue, body fat, or simply fat is a loose connective tissue composed mostly of adipocytes. In addition to adipocytes, adipose tissue contains the stromal vascular fraction (SVF) of cells including preadipocytes, fibroblasts, vascular ...
.
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.
Public awareness
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.
"Obesity Bug You Can Catch"
'' Daily Express'', 26 January 2009
"Obesity Caught Like Common Cold"
''LiveScience
Live Science is a science news website run by Future via Purch, which it purchased from Imaginova in 2009. Stories and editorial commentary are typically syndicated to major news outlets, such as Yahoo!, MSNBC, AOL, and Fox News.{{fact, date=Marc ...
'', 26 January 2009
See also
* Fat virus
References
External links
"The Fat Virus: Could Obesity Be Contagious?"
at WebMD
WebMD is an American corporation known primarily as an online publisher of news and information pertaining to human health and well-being. The site includes information pertaining to drugs. It is one of the top healthcare websites.
It was fou ...
"Can a virus make you fat?"
at BBC News
BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...
"Fat Plague - Documentary"
at 4oD
All 4 is a video on demand service from the Channel Four Television Corporation, free of charge for most content and funded by advertising. The service is available in the UK and Ireland; viewers are not required to have a TV licence—require ...
"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
"Fat Virus, Ad-36 Blamed For Obesity Epidemic In Australians"
a
Medindia
{{DEFAULTSORT:Adenovirus Serotype 36
Adenoviridae
Medical conditions related to obesity