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Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 02 1995, 389-394, Vol 33, No. 2
Copyright © 1995 by the American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Monitoring levels of human cytomegalovirus DNA in blood after liver transplantation

E Drouet, R Colimon, S Michelson, N Fourcade, A Niveleau, C Ducerf, A Boibieux, M Chevallier and G Denoyel
Unite d'Infectiologie, Institut Pasteur de Lyon, France.

We evaluated a semiquantitative PCR assay prospectively in 40 liver transplant recipients as an aid in making a prompt diagnosis of cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection. For 2 months after transplantation, clinical specimens from patients were tested weekly by PCR, virus isolation from peripheral blood and urine, and CMV serology. The incidence of active CMV infection was 70%. The levels of CMV DNA determined by hybridization of PCR samples and densitometric scanning of blots were assigned a score of 1 to 4 by comparison with four external standards amplified in parallel and corresponding to a range of 80 to 80,000 genomes. The first detection of CMV in blood by PCR occurred at a mean of 15 days, and high-level PCR scores of 3 or 4 were obtained 21 days after transplantation, whereas viremia occurred 33 days after transplantation. Significantly higher levels of CMV DNA were seen in patients with CMV disease (P < 0.05) than in asymptomatic patients. The prevalence of symptomatic CMV infection was 30%. The positive predictive value of PCR was 48%, while the negative predictive value was 100%. After treatment, the clearance of CMV DNA was always observed and the disappearance of symptoms occurred concomitantly with undetectable PCR signals.

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