title: Quantitative analysis of human herpesvirus-6 and human cytomegalovirus in blood and saliva from patients with acute leukemia.
abstract: Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) DNAs were quantified by real-time PCR assays in blood and saliva obtained from 50 patients with acute leukemia at the time of diagnosis (50 of each matrix), aplasia (65 of each matrix), remission (55 of each matrix), and relapse (20 of each matrix) to evaluate which biological matrix was more suitable to identify a viral reactivation, search for a possible link between HHV-6 and HCMV reactivations, and evaluate the relations between viral loads and count of different leukocyte types in blood. The median HHV-6 loads were 136; 219; 226, and 75 copies/million cells in blood at diagnosis, aplasia, remission and relapse, respectively. The HCMV loads were 193 and 317 copies/million cells in blood at diagnosis and remission. In the saliva samples, the HHV-6 loads were 22,165; 15,238; 30,214, and 17,454 copies/million cells at diagnosis, aplasia, remission, and relapse, respectively. The HCMV loads were 8,991; 1,461; 2,980, and 4,283 copies/million cells at diagnosis, aplasia, remission, and relapse, respectively. The HHV-6 load in the blood was correlated to the counts of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (R(2)  = 0.5; P < 0.0001) and lymphocytes (R(2)  = 0.4; P = 0.001) and was not correlated to the monocyte counts (R(2)  = 0.07; P = 0.7). Saliva appears to be a more sensitive biological matrix than whole blood in the detection of HHV-6 or HCMV reactivations. The HHV-6 and HCMV reactivations were linked only in saliva.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Infectious Diseases and Biological Agents, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia.
authors.forename: Faten
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Nefzi
authors.forename: Nabil Abid
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Ben Salem
authors.forename: Abderrahim
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Khelif
authors.forename: Salma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Feki
authors.forename: Mahjoub
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aouni
authors.forename: Agnès
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gautheret-Dejean
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001769:Blood / Q000821:virology*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000821:virology*; D005260:Female; D015654:Herpesvirus 6, Human / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000150:complications*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019349:Roseolovirus Infections / Q000821:virology*; D012463:Saliva / Q000821:virology*; D019562:Viral Load; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: human cytomegalovirus; human herpesvirus-6; leukemia; saliva; viral load; whole blood