BACKGROUND Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a serious complication following heart transplantation. This study (June 2003-January 2010) retrospectively assessed the effects of oral valganciclovir prophylaxis in adult heart transplant recipients during the first year after transplantation. METHODS In patients with normal renal function, 900 mg of oral valganciclovir was administered twice da...

Recombinant modified vaccinia Ankara- and peptide-based IFN-gamma ELISPOT assays were used to detect and measure human CMV (HCMV)-specific CD8(+) T cell responses to the pp65 (UL83) and immediate early protein 1 (IE1; UL123) gene products in 16 HCMV-infected infants and children. Age at study ranged from birth to 2 years. HCMV-specific CD8(+) T cells were detected in 14 (88%) of 16 children at ...

PURPOSE Adoptive transfer of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-specific and cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTL) genetically modified to express a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) induces objective tumor responses in clinical trials. In vivo expansion and persistence of these cells are crucial to achieve sustained clinical responses. We aimed to develop an off-the-shelf whole-cell vacci...

We compared the pp65 antigen detection by an in house method (immunoperoxidase assay) and by a commercial kit (immunofluorescence assay) available for cytomegalovirus infection diagnosis in immunocompromised patients. Sixty-four blood samples were analyzed in duplicate for both techniques. Eight-six percent of the samples had concordant qualitative results. The discordant results occurred more ...