Antiviral CD8 T cells in the control of primary human cytomegalovirus infection in early childhood 40th Annual Meeting of the Infectious-Diseases-Society-of-America Chen, S. F., Tu, W. W., Sharp, M. A., Tongson, E. C., He, X. S., Greenberg, H. B., Holmes, T. H., Wang, Z. T., Kemble, G., Manganello, A. M., Adler, S. P., Dekker, C. L., Levvis, D. B., Arvin, A. M. UNIV CHICAGO PRESS. 2004: 1619–27

Abstract

Human cytomegalovirus (CMV) establishes persistent infection, with control of replication thought to be mediated by CMV-specific CD8 T cells. Primary CMV infection commonly affects young children and causes prolonged viral shedding in saliva and urine. We investigated whether this virus-host interaction pattern reflects a developmental deficiency of antiviral CD8 T cell-mediated immunity during childhood. CMV-specific CD8 T cell responses in asymptomatic children with active infection were not different from adults with recent or long-term infection in frequency and functional analyses. High urine CMV concentrations were detected, despite these CMV-specific CD8 T cell responses. We conclude that delayed resolution of primary CMV infection in young children is not caused by a deficient CMV-specific CD8 T cell response. Because these healthy children continue to have local CMV replication, we suggest that CD8 T cells may function primarily to prevent symptomatic, disseminated disease.

View details for PubMedID 15116298