Increased urinary excretion of human cytomegalovirus in children with malignancy: detection by polymerase chain reaction.
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is one of the most important agents causing opportunistic infections in immunocompromised hosts. In this study, we examined the urinary excretion of HCMV in children with malignancy using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Urine samples were collected from on-therapy, off-therapy patients with malignancy, and healthy controls. A simple DNA extraction method using glass powder was employed, and inhibitory effect of urine on PCR was prevented. For PCR, a pair of primers from the HCMV major immediate early gene sequence was used. Among patients who received intensive chemotherapy, 52.0% had urinary HCMV excretion after the chemotherapy course. In contrast, off-therapy patients and healthy controls showed a lower incidence of urinary HCMV excretion (20.4 and 8.7%, respectively). The incidence of HCMV urinary excretion in the on-therapy group was significantly higher than healthy controls (P < 0.05). In the on-therapy group, the total white blood cell count of the virus excreters was lower than that of non-excreters. The incidence of HCMV excretion was high in on-therapy patients. Most of the virus excreters were seropositive, so their viruria was thought to be caused by reactivation. Repeated monitoring of virus excretion by this rapid and simple method may be useful to detect HCMV infection early and to control it in such patients.
Kajiwara
M
M
Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Japan.
Yamaguchi
Y
Y
Hirai
K
K
Yata
J
J
D000293:Adolescent; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D015470:Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / Q000652:urine; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000652:urine*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D054198:Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma / Q000652:urine; D012016:Reference Values
D004279:DNA, Viral