Comparison of two methods used for monitoring low

Authors: Tomasz Dzieciątkowski Maciej Przybylski Agnieszka Tomaszewska Małgorzata Rokicka Mirosław Łuczak

Publish Date: 2007/06/08

Volume: 55, Issue: 3, Pages: 199-

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Abstract

Detection of human cytomegalovirus CMV HHV5 DNA in clinical specimens is considered a cornerstone in the diagnosis of HHV5 disease The present study compared two quantitative methods used for diagnosing cytomegalovirus infection in a 21yearold woman with chronic myeloid leukemia after an unrelated umbilical cord blood transplantationThese findings underline the value of novel PCR methods used in current therapeutic procedures and in monitoring antiviral therapy with nucleoside analogs The high level of sensitivity specificity accuracy and rapidity provided by the LightCycler instrument are favorable for the use of this system in the detection of HHV5 DNA in clinical specimensHuman herpesvirus 5 HHV5 formerly CMV from the βHerpesvirinae subfamily is widely spread within the population 9 Primary HHV5 infection is usually asymptomatic and leads to latent infection of macrophages the CD8+ subpopulation of lymphocytes T and probably also endocrine glands cells 12 HHV5 infections are thus a serious matter of concern in the group of immunocompromised patients 9 The most frequent clinical syndromes noted include cytomegalovirus pneumonia myelosuppression syndrome 16 exacerbation of graftversushost disease GvHD 9 and increased risk of secondary bacterial and fungal infections 6 In most laboratories two main methods are used for the quantitative detection of HHV5 viremia the first is based on PCR/hybridization/colorimetric detection of the product and the second is the realtime PCR technique15Transplantation of allogenic hempoietic stem cells is a therapeutic option in many hematological malignancies bone marrow deficiencies and inherited immunodeficiency syndromes 3 13 17 Because of the insufficient number of classic HLAmatched donors of hempoietic stem cells umbilical cord blood UCB has became considered an alternate and widely accepted source of hempoietic cells 2 14 17 In adult graft recipients the main limitation of UCB usage is the insufficient number of progenitor cells in the transplanted material 3 13 17 A possible way to overcome this problem consists of transplanting multiple units of UCB from various unrelated donors transplantation of socalled mixed UCB 1 7 17 18 UCB as the source of hempoietic stem cells despite its particular disadvantages has two considerable advantages availability and low risk of viral contamination especially with cytomegalovirus and EpsteinBarr virus 17

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