Ella J Ariza-Heredia, Drew J Winston, Scott D Rowley, Kathleen Mullane, Pranatharthi Chandrasekar, Parameswaran Hari, Robin K Avery, Karl S Peggs, Deepali Kumar, Rajneesh Nath, Per Ljungman, Sherif B Mossad, Lynn El Haddad, Dimpy P Shah, Ying Jiang, Fareed Khawaja, Sanjeet Dadwal, Ted Blanchard, Roy F Chemaly

Impact of Baseline and Week 2 and Week 4 Posttransplant CMV Cell-Mediated Immunity on Risk of CMV Infections and Mortality in Recipients of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplant

  • Infectious Diseases
  • Oncology

Abstract Background Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is a common opportunistic infection after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (alloHCT). We explored whether a change in CMV cell-mediated immunity during the first month after transplant predicts the risk of development of CMV infection and all-cause mortality. Methods This follow-up analysis is based on data from the REACT study, a multicenter prospective observational study of recipients of alloHCT who were CMV-seropositive. Production of interferon γ following ex vivo stimulation with CMV antigens IE1 (immediate early 1) and pp65 (phosphoprotein 65) was assessed by CMV ELISPOT assay at baseline and 2 and 4 weeks after transplant. Clinically significant CMV infection (CS-CMVi) was defined as CMV viremia and/or disease necessitating antiviral therapy. We evaluated the impact of CMV CMI changes on the risk of CS-CMVi and post transplant mortality. Results The analysis included 226 recipients of alloHCT with CMV cell-mediated immunity data at baseline and 2 and/or 4 weeks after transplant. CS-CMVi occurred in 64 patients (28%). On Cox regression analyses, independent predictors of CS-CMVi included a negative Δ change from baseline to week 2 of pp65 spot counts (hazard ratio, 3.65 [95% CI, 1.65–8.04]; P = .001) to week 4 of IE1 spot counts (hazard ratio, 2.79 [95% CI, 1.46–5.35]; P = .002), anti-thymocyte globulin conditioning regimen, type of transplant, female sex, and corticosteroid use. Kaplan-Meir analysis showed a significant association of a negative IE1 change from baseline to week 4 and increased all-cause mortality after transplant (log rank test = 0.041). Conclusions A decrease in CMV-specific T-cell responses during the first month after transplant may predict CS-CMVi and is associated with all-cause mortality in recipients of alloHCT.

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