RESTORATION OF MURINE CYTOMEGALOVIRUS (MCMV) INDUCED MYELOSUPPRESSIONBY AS101

Infection with cytomegalovirus (CMV) continues to be one of the most c ommon complications following allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. The gravest danger for the host occurs when the virus is reactivated a s a result of immunosuppression. In this report we studied the effects of sublethal murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) infection on the hemopoiet ic system including bone marrow (BM) cellularity, production of colony stimulating factor (CSF) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) and the development of granulocyte-macrophage colony forming units (CFU-GM), and BM strom al cell viability. Our findings show that the virus infection led to a significant decrease in the number of BM cells and in the production levels of CSF and IL-6. There was also a decrease in the number of str omal cells, as reflected by the number of colony forming unit fibrobla sts (CFU-F), and in the relative number of CFU-GM progenitors. Treatme nt of MCMV infected mice with munomodulator AS101 [ammonium trichloro oxyethylene O-O')tellurate] restored significantly CSF and IL-6 produc tion by BM cells to levels of uninfected control mice as well as the n umber of CFU-F and stromal cell elements which consequently led to the restoration of the total number of BM cells. Results presented here i ndicate that AS101 may have immunomodulatory effects on MCMV mediated myelosuppression. Administration of AS101 to patients with CMV associa ted BM damage may improve the restoration of their BM function.