Functional profile of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific CD8+ T cells and kinetics of NKG2C+ NK Cells associated with the resolution of CMV DNAemia in allogeneic stem cell transplant recipients

✍ Scribed by Beatriz Muñoz-Cobo; Carlos Solano; Isabel Benet; Elisa Costa; María José Remigia; Rafael de la Cámara; José Nieto; Javier López; Paula Amat; Ana Garcia-Noblejas; Dayana Bravo; María Ángeles Clari; David Navarro

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 2011
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 230 KB
• Volume: 84
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0146-6615
• DOI: 10.1002/jmv.22254

✦ Synopsis

Abstract

Immune mechanisms involved in control of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection in the allogeneic stem cell transplantation setting have not been fully disclosed. CMV pp65 and IE‐1‐specific CD8^+^ T cells expressing IFN‐γ, TNF‐α, and CD107a, alone or in combination, and NKG2C^+^ NK cells were prospectively enumerated during 13 episodes of CMV DNAemia. The expansion of monofunctional and polyfunctional CD8^+^ T cells was associated with CMV DNAemia clearance. The size and functional diversity of the expanding CD8^+^ T‐cell population was greater in self‐resolved episodes than in episodes treated with antivirals. These differences were related to the magnitude of expansion of cognate antigen IFN‐γ CD4^+^ T cells. The resolution of CMV DNAemia was associated frequently with a marked expansion of both CD56^dim^/CD16^+^ NK cells and NKG2C^+^ CD56^bright^/CD16^−^ NK cells. The data lend support to the role of polyfunctional CD8^+^ T cells in controlling CMV replication in the allogeneic stem cell transplantation setting, and suggest that NKG2C^+^ NK cells may be involved critically in the resolution of CMV DNAemia episodes. J. Med. Virol. 84:259–267, 2012. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.