Antibody Maturation and Viremia after Primary Cytomegalovirus Infection, in Immunocompetent Patients and Kidney‐Transplant Patients
Open Access
- 1 December 2004
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in The Journal of Infectious Diseases
- Vol. 190 (11) , 1908-1912
- https://doi.org/10.1086/424677
Abstract
To investigate antibody maturation and serum levels of cytomegalovirus (CMV) DNA after primary CMV infection, we studied 51 immunocompetent and 27 kidney-transplant patients. Compared with the immunocompetent patients, the transplant patients had significantly more-prolonged and -variable antibody maturation, clearly longer durations of viremia, and higher levels of CMV DNA; however, antibody maturation continued for >1 year even in immunocompetent patients. Long-term ganciclovir prophylaxis in the transplant patients was associated with either delayed immunoglobulin-G seroconversion, inhibition of antibody maturation (n = 2), or immunoglobulin-class switching (n = 1). In conclusion, antibody maturation continues in immunocompetent patients for a period longer than previously had been thought and is significantly delayed or even inhibited in kidney-transplant patients.Keywords
This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: