TRANSFER OF HUMORAL IMMUNITY AGAINST CYTOMEGALOVIRUS PROTEINS FOLLOWING TRANSPLANTATION OF T-CELL-DEPLETED ALLOGENEIC BONE-MARROW FROM SEROPOSITIVE DONORS

Previous work by Grob et al. [Lancet i:774,1987] has demonstrated that allogeneic, T-cell-depleted bone marrow transplant recipients have a better prognosis for reactivated cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection if th eir donor is also immune. It was proposed that adoptively transferred humoral immunity was responsible for the protective effect of active i nfection. Immunoblot analysis using purified virions was used here to examine pre- and posttransplant antibody responses of seropositive rec ipients who had undergone active viral infection after transplantation . Immunoblots were assessed for the numbers of polypetides recognised and reactivity against individual polypeptides. Immunoblots were also scanned by quantitative densitometry, and the intensity of antibody re sponses against total viral protein and individual polypeptides was de termined. Sera from recipients with immune donors exhibited a secondar y-type immune reponse in terms of both intensity and polypeptide speci fic pattern of antibody reactivity, compared with those recipients wit h nonimmune donors. In particular, recipients with immune donors appea red to show a greater reactivity against a protein of Mr 55,000; this may represent the envelope glycoprotein gB, which is a major target fo r neutralising antibodies, and might also be utilised for preparing an effective vaccine for CMV. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.