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Ex vivo monitoring of human cytomegalovirus‐specific CD8 + T‐Cell responses using the QuantiFERON®‐CMV assay in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients attending an Irish hospital
Author(s) -
Fleming T.,
Dunne J.,
Crowley B.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.21727
Subject(s) - human cytomegalovirus , medicine , quantiferon , immunology , cd8 , hematopoietic stem cell transplantation , t cell , immunity , transplantation , cellular immunity , immune system , virology , virus , tuberculosis , latent tuberculosis , pathology , mycobacterium tuberculosis
Reconstitution of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) T‐cell immunity is crucial in hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) recipients. The QuantiFERON®‐CMV assay for cellular HCMV‐specific immunity was evaluated in allogeneic HSCT recipients (n = 43) and patients with hematological malignancies (n = 29) attending a tertiary‐care Irish hospital. An intracellular cytokine (ICC) assay correlated with the QuantiFERON®‐CMV assay. Although there was agreement between HCMV seropositivity and QuantiFERON®‐CMV assay, six HCMV seropositive immunosuppressed patients with hematological malignancy had negative QuantiFERON®‐CMV results. The 43 HSCT recipients were classified as high risk (D − /R + ) (n = 18), intermediate risk (D + /R + and D + /R − ) (n = 17), and low risk (D − /R − ) (n = 8). During episodes of HCMV DNAemia no evidence of HCMV‐specific immunity was found using the QuantiFERON®‐CMV assay. Furthermore, the recovery of HCMV‐specific CD8 + T‐cell responses in high‐risk seropositive recipients of matched unrelated donors was severely delayed, a mean of 200 (SD = 117) days compared to 58 (SD = 23) days for sibling donors ( P ≤ 0.028). In addition, three patients with late HCMV infection (infection >100 days post‐transplant) had delayed reconstitution of HCMV‐specific CD8 + T cells. Interestingly, two recipients (R + /D − ) developed rapid immune reconstitution by days 15 and 36 post‐HSCT, suggesting HCMV‐specific T‐cell lymphopoiesis of recipient origin. Levels of CD8 + T‐cell immunity in HCMV seropositive HSCT recipients were lowest following HSCT. A high number (33%) of indeterminate results was observed immediately after transplantation. Patients with indeterminate QuantiFERON®‐CMV results had low levels of HCMV‐specific CD8 + T cells. J. Med. Virol. 82:433–440, 2010. © 2010 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.