Phenotype and specificity of T cells in primary human cytomegalovirus infection during pregnancy: IL-7Rpos long-term memory phenotype is associated with protection from vertical transmission.

ABSTRACT: Congenital human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is the major cause of birth defects and a precise definition of the HCMV-specific T-cell response in primary infection may help define reliable correlates of immune protection during pregnancy. In this study, a high throughput method was used to define the frequency of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells specific for four HCMV proteins in the naïve compartment of seronegative subjects and the effector/memory compartments of subjects with primary/remote HCMV infection. The naïve repertoire displayed comparable frequencies of T cells that were reactive with HCMV structural (pp65, gB and the pentamer gHgLpUL128L) and non-structural (IE-1) proteins. Whereas, following natural infection, the majority of effector/memory CD4+ and CD8+ T cells recognized either

SUBMITTER: Mele F 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5675411 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature