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Cytomegalovirus (CMV) strain differences between the eye and blood in AIDS patients with CMV retinitis
F D Verbraak1, M Bruinenberg, G J van den Horn
1Department of Ophthalmology, Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Objective:
To investigate possible differences in cytomegalovirus (CMV) strain distribution between the eye and blood in AIDS patients with CMV retinitis.
Methods:
CMV DNA sequences from aqueous humour and peripheral blood leukocytes (PBL), obtained from 13 AIDS patients with CMV retinitis, were compared. DNA was isolated and the CMV IE-1 sequence (part of the immediate early-1 gene) and the a-sequence (located in the a-region) were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR products of the a-sequence were analysed by Southern blotting for amplified fragment-length polymorphisms. The level of divergence between the a-sequences of aqueous humour- and PBL-derived CMV was studied in two patients by cloning these sequences followed by sequence analysis.
Results:
CMV DNA could be detected in all aqueous humour samples and in 10 out of 13 paired blood samples. In the 10 patients, with CMV DNA detectable in both aqueous humour and PBL, seven cases showed differences between the amplified products of both compartments. Sequence analysis in two patients revealed that the aqueous humour and PBL of the same patient can harbour both identical, similar and highly divergent CMV a-sequences.
Conclusion:
These results indicate that despite the haematogenous spread of CMV, the eye, being a relatively shielded organ, may contain CMV strains different from those found in the blood.