Abstract
To investigate further the interaction of cytomegalovirus (CMV) with blood leukocytes, we studied the kinetics of leukocyte infection during sublethal murine CMV (MCMV) infection. Three-week old Balb/c mice were infected ip with 105 plaque-forming-units of MCMV, and mononuclear and granulocyte-enriched leukocyte fractions were studied 0, 1, 3, 5, 7, 14, and 20 days post-infection using in situ nucleic acid hybridization, detection of antigen by monoclonal antibodies, and culture for infectious virus. By day 3, immediate-early MCMV antigens were detected in the leukocytes of all infected animals (mean of 200 antigen-positive cells/106 leukocytes). By day 5, antigens, nucleic acid, and infectious virus were detected in the leukocytes of all animals and were present until day 14. By each method, peak infection was observed on day 5. At peak infection, more cells contained antigens (mean of 248 antigen-positive cells/106 leukocytes) than contained nucleic acid (mean of 64 nucleic acid positive cells/106 leukocytes) (p<0.001). On day 5, 73% of the antigen-positive cells were lymphocytes and 23% were monocytes, with MCMV antigens in 0.2 to 0.9% of the lymphocytes harvested from MCMV-infected animals. Infection of leukocytes in these studies corresponded to our previous observations regarding the timing of MCMV-induced alterations in lymphocyte subset numbers and mitogen responsiveness. These studies provide additional support for the concept that CMV-induced immunosuppression is attributable to direct infection of blood leukocytes.
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Bale, J., O'Neil, M. & Grose, C. Murine Cytomegalovirus Infection of Blood Leukocytes: Detection of Antigen, Nucleic Acid, and Infectious Virus. Pediatr Res 21 (Suppl 4), 321 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00925
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1203/00006450-198704010-00925