[Changes in peripheral lymphocyte subfraction in cytomegalovirus infections during the early stage of allogenic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation].
OBJECTIVE
To study the alterations and the clinical significance of peripheral lymphocyte subsets in patients with active cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection during the early stage of allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell transplantation (PBSCT) and to investigate the influence of active CMV infection on immunity.


METHODS
K(3)-EDTA anticoagulated peripheral blood samples were collected weekly from 27 allogeneic PBSCT recipients in the first 3 months after PBSCT. CMV pp65 antigen in peripheral white blood cells were tested by indirect immunofluorescence assay, and lymphocyte subsets were detected by flow cytometry with specific fluorescent monoclonal antibodies. In the meantime lymphocyte subsets of 51 samples from healthy blood donors were tested as normal control values.


RESULTS
CD(4)(+) T cell count for all recipients was significantly low throughout the first 3 months after PBSCT as compared with normal donors (P < 0.01). Of the 27 allogeneic PBSCT recipients, 5 had no active CMV infection, 10 had asymptomatic CMV active infection, 12 had symptomatic CMV infection. The average CD(4)(+) T cell counts (x 10(6)/L) for the different groups of patients were 328 +/- 203, 239 +/- 218 and 199 +/- 92; The average CD(8)(+) T cell counts (x 10(6)/L) were 400 +/- 380, 267 +/- 206 and 603 +/- 461, respectively. The average percentage of CD(4)(+) CD(28)(+) T cell subsets were (89.2 +/- 8.9)%, (84.2 +/- 10.1)% and (63.5 +/- 11.4)%, respectively. The recipients with asymptomatic CMV active infection were likely to have more natural killer (NK) cells as compared with those without active CMV infection (P < 0.01). The patients with symptomatic CMV infection had significantly lower CD(4)(+) cell count and higher CD(8)(+) cell count than those with asymptomatic CMV infection (P < 0.01). The percentage of CD(4)(+) CD(28)(+) cells was decreased significantly in the CMV active infection group (P < 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
CMV active infection could induce dramatic alterations in lymphocyte subsets lymphocyte subsets and host immunity for allogeneic PBSCT recipients. Therefore, the changes of lymphocyte subsets might serve as auxiliary parameters to predict active CMV infections in this kind of immunocompromised patients.
Li
Tai-Sheng
TS
Department of Infectious Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Peking Union Medical College, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100730, China. tli@21cn.com
Qin
Hai-Yan
HY
Chen
Hu
H
Jiang
Min
M
Wang
Huan-Ling
HL
Wang
Ai-Xia
AX
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D018791:CD4 Lymphocyte Count; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000276:immunology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D036102:Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Transplantation; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000097:blood; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins / Q000097:blood
D010750:Phosphoproteins; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins; C065418:cytomegalovirus matrix protein 65kDa