Cytomegalovirus infection of human kidney cells in vitro

Cytomegalovirus infection of human kidney cells in vitro. To study which structures of a kidney allograft are the main targets for cytomegalovirus (CMV), human glomerular epithelial and mesangial cells, as well as tubular epithelial and endothelial cells were isolated by steel meshes of different pore sizes and enzymatic treatments. The various cultured cell types were characterized by morphology and specific antibodies. Human CMV was inoculated onto cell monolayers using two different culture methods: conventional tissue culture and rapid shell vial culture. To analyze whether CMV had a direct effect on the immunologic properties of kidney parenchymal cells, MHC class I and class II antigen expression was estimated before and after the infection. CMV infected all kidney cells identically. All cells expressed class I strongly after the infection, but they were class I positive prior to infection. Class II antigens were not expressed on the cell surface either before or after the infection. In conclusion, human kidney cells of glomerular, tubular and vascular origin were all infected by CMV without any difference. CMV had no significant direct effects on the antigenic properties of the cells

High plasma HIV load in the CRF01-AE outbreak among injecting drug users in Finland

An explosive outbreak of HIV-1 caused by the recombinant subtype AE (CRF01-AE) was detected in 1998 among Finnish injecting drug users (IDUs). These IDUs were compared with IDUs from the Amsterdam Cohort Study (ACS) infected with subtype B, to detect possible differences between 2 western IDU cohorts infected with different subtypes. Markers for progression ( viral load and CD4+ lymphocyte count) were compared between 93 IDUs with CRF01-AE and 63 IDUs with subtype B. Only persons with a seroconversion interval <= 2 y were included. During 48 months of follow-up, both cohorts were similar in CD4+ cell decline, but the Finnish IDUs had 0.34 - 0.94 log(10) copies/ml higher viral loads. The Amsterdam IDUs had a low viral load ( <1000 copies/ml) significantly more often than the Finnish IDUs. The difference could not be explained by the use of antiretrovirals. The higher viral load may have contributed to the rapid spread of the recombinant virus in the Finnish outbrea