Persistent Excretion of Cytomegalovirus in Heart Transplant Patients Correlates with Inversion of the Ratio of T Helper/T Suppressor-Cytotoxic Cells

Infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) is frequently detected in allograft recipients. The authors have observed that 72% of patients develop CMV after cardiac transplantation. Chronic infection is common in renal allograft patients, who may continue to excrete CMV in urine for several years after inf...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of infectious diseases 1986-06, Vol.153 (6), p.1160-1162
Main Authors: O'toole, Carol M., Gray, J. J., Maher, Patricia, Wreghitt, T. G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antibodies
Biological and medical sciences
Concise Laboratory and Clinical Communications
Cytomegalovirus
Cytomegalovirus Infections - immunology
Cytomegalovirus Infections - microbiology
Excretion
Heart Transplantation
Homologous transplantation
Humans
Immunosuppression - adverse effects
Infections
Leukocyte Count
Medical sciences
Natural killer cells
Surgery (general aspects). Transplantations, organ and tissue grafts. Graft diseases
Surgery of the heart
T lymphocytes
T-Lymphocytes - classification
T-Lymphocytes - immunology
T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic - immunology
T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer - immunology
T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory - immunology
Tissue grafting
Viruses
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Summary:Infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) is frequently detected in allograft recipients. The authors have observed that 72% of patients develop CMV after cardiac transplantation. Chronic infection is common in renal allograft patients, who may continue to excrete CMV in urine for several years after infection. As IgM and IgG antibody response to CMV are relatively efficient in allograft recipients, failure to clear the virus is considered to be due to impaired cellular immunity. In many recipients of cardiac grafts who have CMV infections, the authors have found a chronic inversion of the T sub(H)/T sub(S-C) ratio that lasts up to three years. This inversion results from a large increase in the absolute number of T sub(S-C) cells, the majority of which express a phenotypic marker for natural killer cells. The data presented show that excretion of virus preceded and continued only in patients who maintained a T sub(H)/T sub(S-C) ratio inversion after primary or secondary CMV infection.
ISSN:0022-1899
1537-6613
DOI:10.1093/infdis/153.6.1160