Polypeptide-specific antibody response to human cytomegalovirus after infection in bone marrow transplant recipients

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection continues to be the most important infection occurring after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Although T cell-specific antiviral immunity appears to be necessary for control of the infection, the humoral immune reaction also contributes to a complete immune response. In this paper we report our findings concerning the antibody response to the individual polypeptides of HCMV in patients who had undergone BMT and subsequently had displayed evidence of HCMV infection. Sera obtained from the subjects during and after HCMV viremia were studied by using both a radioimmunoprecipitation assay and an immunoblot assay, and the results were compared with the pattern of antibody response in normal individuals. The results show that the BMT patient can make antibodies to individual proteins of HCMV in a pattern similar to that displayed by persons with natural infection. The polypeptide-specific antibody response present most frequently was directed to proteins of 64 kDa, 50 kDa, and 36 kDa. Some BMT recipients also produced antibody to a wide range of HCMV proteins: 183 kDa, 155 kDa, 130 kDa, 110 kDa, 92 kDa, 86 kDa, 74 kDa, 71 kDa, 69 kDa, 39-44 kDa, 33 kDa, and 29 kDa.