0000000000757375
AUTHOR
Ralf Wagner
Efficient Delivery of Human Cytomegalovirus T Cell Antigens by Attenuated Sendai Virus Vectors.
ABSTRACT Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) represents a major cause of clinical complications during pregnancy as well as immunosuppression, and the licensing of a protective HCMV vaccine remains an unmet global need. Here, we designed and validated novel Sendai virus (SeV) vectors delivering the T cell immunogens IE-1 and pp65. To enhance vector safety, we used a replication-deficient strain (rdSeV) that infects target cells in a nonproductive manner while retaining viral gene expression. In this study, we explored the impact that transduction with rdSeV has on human dendritic cells (DCs) by comparing it to the parental, replication-competent Sendai virus strain (rcSeV) as well as the poxvirus …
Clinical Validation of a Novel Elispot-Based Diagnostic Assay: Monitoring Cytomegalovirus-Specific Cell-Mediated Immunity and Risk Stratification in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients
Increasing evidence suggests that impaired cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific cell-mediated immunity (CMV-CMI) is a major cause of uncontrolled CMV reactivations and associated complications in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). No reliable test exists to predict patients at risk of primary and/or recurrent CMV reactivations following HSCT. Accurately assessing CMV-CMI might therefore improve the risk stratification of patients and allow optimizing and individualizing patient care. This study aimed to evaluate the suitability of a novel IFN-γ ELISpot assay (T-Track® CMV), based on the stimulation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells with T-activated® pp65 and IE-1 CMV proteins, to…