EFFECT OF FOSCARNET INDUCTION TREATMENT ON QUANTITATION OF HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS (HCMV) DNA IN PERIPHERAL-BLOOD POLYMORPHONUCLEAR LEUKOCYTES AND AQUEOUS-HUMOR OF AIDS PATIENTS WITH HCMV RETINITIS

The aim of this study was to investigate peripheral blood polymorphonu clear leukocytes and, whenever possible, aqueous humor from 65 AIDS pa tients with ophthalmoscopically diagnosed human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) retinitis to determine (i) whether patients consistently carry viral DNA and (ii) to what extent foscarnet induction treatment decreases vi ral DNA levels. HCMV DNA was quantified by PCR using densitometric ana lysis of hybridization products obtained from external standards and a standard curve from which the number of genome equivalents of test sa mples, normalized by using an internal amplification control, was inte rpolated. Results showed that 56 of 65 patients (86.1%) were positive for HCMV DNA prior to induction treatment. Of 41 of the 56 patients (7 3.2%) whose blood had become DNA negative after induction, only 5 had a high viral load (>5,000 genome equivalents per 2 x 10(5) polymorphon uclear leukocytes) prior to induction, whereas as many as 13 of the 15 (26.8%) patients remaining DNA positive after induction had a high vi ral load prior to induction. Finally, of the nine patients (13.8%) wit h DNA-negative blood prior to induction treatment, three were shifted to foscarnet from ganciclovir, while six were erroneously enrolled in the study. Pre- and postinduction aqueous humor samples were obtained from 12 patients; all of these were DNA positive prior to induction, w hereas after induction, 4 became negative, 6 showed a marked decrease in viral DNA, and 2 had nearly stable low DNA levels. In conclusion, P CR is a valuable tool for etiologic diagnosis and monitoring of HCMV r etinitis treatment in AIDS patients. HCMV DNA is consistently present in the blood and aqueous humor of all patients with HCMV retinitis. Fo scarnet induction treatment is highly effective in suppressing or redu cing DNA levels in both blood leukocytes and aqueous humor.