title: Humoral immune responses and cytomegalovirus excretion in children with asymptomatic infection.
abstract: Forty-two seropositive children aged 3 to 5 years attending a kindergarten were followed up for 1 year in order to examine the relationship between humoral immunity and cytomegalovirus (CMV) excretion status. Anti-CMV antibodies were measured at the beginning and end of the study by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, neutralizing antibody test, and immunoblot techniques. Among these children, 32 persistently shed virus in urine, 2 intermittently shed CMV, and 4 experienced reactivation during the study. Virus was never isolated from 4 seropositive children. The level of anti-CMV IgG antibody in seropositive children who remained nonshedders was significantly higher than in children who shed virus during follow-up. On immunoblots, all seropositive nonshedders reacted to a CMV-specific 65 kD antigen, whereas most shedders (80%) did not. These findings suggest that humoral immunity plays a role in controlling persistent CMV infection in children with asymptomatic infection. However, the humoral immunity measured by the neutralizing test and the presence of antibodies against CMV-specific envelope antigens (116 kD/55 kD) apparently play a limited role in modifying persistent excretion and regulating reactivation of latent CMV. Immune evasion by CMV to block these antigens may explain these results.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, Republic of China.
authors.forename: C Y
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: S F
authors.initials: SF
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: T S
authors.initials: TS
authors.lastname: Yeh
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: C W
authors.initials: CW
authors.lastname: Wu
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood*; D002353:Carrier State / Q000276:immunology / Q000652:urine / Q000821:virology*; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000652:urine / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000097:blood*; D014556:Urine / Q000382:microbiology
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D007074:Immunoglobulin G