title: Human herpesvirus 6 infection in autologous bone marrow transplant recipients: a prospective study.
abstract: After primary infection in early life, human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) remains latent in the body and may reactivate in subjects with poor immune status. A 180-day longitudinal study of HHV-6 infection was carried out in 23 autologous bone marrow transplant recipients to evaluate reactivation of HHV-6; two of these patients underwent a double transplant. The patients were monitored prospectively for HHV-6 DNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) by hot start nested PCR. Positive samples were typed by the enzymatic restriction protocol. Positive plasma samples were also tested for HHV-6 DNA. Antibodies against HHV-6 were measured by immunofluorescence. Five and two out of 23 patients had intermittent and persistent positivity to HHV-6 DNA in PBMCs, respectively; four patients carried variant B, and the other three patients both A and B. None of the respective plasma samples were positive. Two patients were positive for HHV-6 antibodies. Since the significance of HHV-6 DNA in PBMCs is unclear, these findings do not necessarily indicate active infection but may be due to mild immunosuppression in autologous BMT recipients.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Biologia Molecolare, Sezione di Microbiologia, Università di Siena, Siena, Italy. Moschettini@unisi.it
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Moschettini
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Galieni
authors.forename: P E
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Valensin
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Laszlo
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scalia
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tozzi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lauria
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Donati
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood; D016026:Bone Marrow Transplantation / Q000009:adverse effects*; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006566:Herpesviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology / Q000821:virology*; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000276:immunology / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000821:virology*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D014775:Virus Activation
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral