Comparative magnitude and kinetics of human cytomegalovirus‐specific CD4+ and CD8+ T‐cell responses in pregnant women with primary versus remote infection and in transmitting versus non‐transmitting mothers: Its utility for dating primary infection in pregnancy. Issue 7 (5th January 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Fornara, Chiara; Furione, Milena; Arossa, Alessia; Gerna, Giuseppe; Lilleri, Daniele
• Is Part Of: Journal of medical virology. Volume 88:Issue 7(2016)
• Page Start: 1238
• Page End: 1246
• Publication Date: 2016-01-05
• Subjects: human cytomegalovirus -- T‐cell response -- pregnancy -- vertical transmission -- primary infection; Virology -- Periodicals; 616
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.24449
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0146-6615

Abstract

Abstract : To discriminate between primary (PI) and remote (RI) human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection, several immunological parameters were monitored for a 2‐year period in 53 pregnant women with PI, and 33 pregnant women experiencing HCMV PI at least 5 years prior. Cytokine (IFN‐γ and IL‐2) production by and phenotype (effector/memory CD45RA + ) of HCMV‐specific CD4 + and CD8 + T‐cells as well as the lymphoproliferative responses (LPR) were evaluated, with special reference to the comparison between a group of women transmitting (T) and a group of non‐transmitting (NT) the infection to fetus. While HCMV‐specific CD4 + T‐cells reached at 90 days post‐infection (p.i.) values comparable to RI, CD8 + T–cells reached at 60 days p.i. levels significantly higher and persisting throughout the entire follow‐up. Instead, IL‐2 production and lymphoproliferative responses were lower in PI than RI for the entire follow‐up period. Effector memory CD45RA + CD4 + and CD8 + HCMV‐specific T‐cells increased until 90 days p.i., reaching and maintaining levels higher than RI. The comparison between T and NT women showed that, at 30 days p.i., in NT women there was a significantly higher IL‐2 production by HCMV‐specific CD4 + T‐cells, and at 60 days p.i. a significantly higher frequency of both specific CD4 + and CD8 + CD45RA + T‐cells. HCMV T‐cell response appears to correlate with virus transmission to fetus and some parameters (CD4 + lymphoproliferation, and frequency of HCMV‐specific CD8 + IL2 + T‐cells) may help in dating PI during pregnancy. J. Med. Virol. 88:1238–1246, 2016 . © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.