E. Percivalle et al., CIRCULATING ENDOTHELIAL GIANT-CELLS PERMISSIVE FOR HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS (HCMV) ARE DETECTED IN DISSEMINATED HCMV INFECTIONS WITH ORGAN INVOLVEMENT, The Journal of clinical investigation, 92(2), 1993, pp. 663-670
Giant cells fully permissive for human cvtomegalovirus (HCMV) were fou
nd to circulate, at a variable proportion, in peripheral blood of 21 o
ut of 25 immunocompromised patients with disseminated HCMV infection.
Circulating endothelial giant cells (EGC) were identified by a specifi
c monoclonal antibody of endothelial origin and shown to express immed
iate-early, early, and late viral proteins. Immunostaining patterns of
different viral proteins were comparable to those detected in vitro i
n cultured human umbilical vein endothelial cells. EGC counts > 10 wer
e associated with high levels (> 100) of HCMV viremia and antigenemia,
as well as with an overt clinical syndrome in transplanted patients,
and to an untreated long lasting organ localization in AIDS patients.
On the other hand, EGC counts were < 10 during disseminated HCMV infec
tions of both transplant recipients with no apparent organ syndrome an
d AIDS patients with recent organ involvement. In tissue sections from
AIDS patients, infected endothelial cells were found to progressively
enlarge till detaching from the small vessel wall and entering blood
stream. HCMV-infected EGC represent a new systemic parameter suitable
for the diagnosis of HCMV organ involvement and for the study of the p
athogenesis of disseminated infections.