COMPARATIVE QUANTITATION OF HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS DNA IN BLOOD LEUKOCYTES AND PLASMA OF TRANSPLANT AND AIDS PATIENTS

A new method for the quantitation of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) DNA was used to determine the levels of viral DNA in parallel in 120 blood leukocyte (leukoDNAemia) and plasma (plasmaDNAemia) samples from 8 he art or heart-lung transplant patients and 17 AIDS patients with dissem inated HCMV infection. PlasmaDNAemia was consistently associated with leukoDNAemia in both groups of patients. However, at least in the tran splant patients, plasmaDNAemia was not necessarily associated with cli nical symptoms, appearing later and disappearing earlier than leukoDNA emia during the course of infection. Quantitative mean levels of leuko DNAemia were mostly higher than those of plasmaDNAemia in both transpl ant and AIDS patients. However, in the absence of antiviral treatment, plasmaDNAemia levels were significantly higher in AIDS patients than in transplant recipients, whereas leukoDNAemia levels were not signifi cantly different between the two groups of patients. A significant cor relation was found between leukoDNAemia and plasmaDNAemia in AIDS pati ents, as well as in transplant recipients, although to a lesser degree . However, from a diagnostic standpoint, quantitative determination of plasmaDNAemia appears to represent a much less sensitive parameter th an that of leukoDNAemia (or antigenemia) for monitoring HCMV infection s and antiviral treatment.