CD154‐expressing CMV‐specific T cells associate with freedom from DNAemia and may be protective in seronegative recipients after liver or intestine transplantation

• Published in: Pediatric transplantation 2020-02, Vol.24 (1), p.e13601-n/a
• Main Authors: Ashokkumar, Chethan, Green, Michael, Soltys, Kyle, Michaels, Marian, Mazariegos, George, Reyes‐Mugica, Miguel, Higgs, Brandon W., Spishock, Brianna, Zaccagnini, Madison, Sethi, Pradeep, Rzempoluch, Alexis, Kepler, Alexandra, Kachmar, Pam, Remaley, Lisa, Winnier, Julia, Jones, Katie, Moir, Kayla, Fazzolare, Tamara, Jenkins, Katherine, Hartle, Tara, Falik, Rachel, Ningappa, Mylarappa, Bond, Geoffrey, Khanna, Ajai, Ganoza, Armando, Sun, Qing, Sindhi, Rakesh
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescent; Adult; Biomarkers - blood; CD40 Ligand - blood; CD40L protein; cell‐mediated immunity; Child; Child, Preschool; cytomegalovirus; Cytomegalovirus - immunology; DNA, Viral - blood; Drug therapy; Female; Flow Cytometry; Healthy Volunteers; Hepatocytes; Humans; Immunity, Cellular; Infant; intestine transplantation; Intestines - transplantation; Liver Transplantation; Liver transplants; Logistic Models; Lymphocytes; Lymphocytes T; Male; Postoperative Complications - immunology; Postoperative Complications - virology; Pp65 protein; Protective Factors; Reference Values; Risk Factors; Sensitivity and Specificity; Small intestine transplantation; T-Lymphocytes - immunology; T-Lymphocytes - metabolism; T-Lymphocytes - virology; Transplants & implants; Viremia - etiology; Viremia - immunology; Young Adult; Young adults; γ-Interferon
• ISSN: 1397-3142; 1399-3046
• DOI: 10.1111/petr.13601

Cell‐mediated immunity to CMV, if known, could improve antiviral drug therapy in at‐risk children and young adults with LT and IT. Host immunity has been measured with CMV‐specific T cells, which express IFNγ, but not those which express CD154, a possible substitute for IFNγ. CMV‐specific CD154+ T cells and their subsets were measured with flow cytometry after stimulating PBL from recipient blood samples with an overlapping peptide mix of CMV‐pp65 antigen for up to 6 hours. CMV‐specific CD154+ T cells co‐expressed IFNγ in PBL from three healthy adults and averaged 3.8% (95% CI 3.2%‐4.4%) in 40 healthy adults. CMV‐specific T cells were significantly lower in 19 CMV DNAemic LT or IT recipients, compared with 126 non‐DNAemic recipients, 1.3% (95% CI 0.8‐1.7) vs 4.1 (95% CI 3.6‐4.6, P