Journal of virology
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Journal of virology · Apr 2007
Frequency and phenotype of JC virus-specific CD8+ T lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of patients with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.
JC virus (JCV)-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) are associated with a favorable outcome in patients with progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML) and cross-recognize the polyomavirus BK virus (BKV). We sought to determine the frequency and phenotype in fresh blood of CD8+ T cells specific for two A*0201-restricted JCV epitopes, VP1(p36) and VP1(p100), and assess their impact on JC and BK viremia and viruria in 15 healthy subjects, eight human immunodeficiency virus-positive (HIV+) individuals, and nine HIV+ patients with PML (HIV+ PML patients) classified as survivors. After magnetic pre-enrichment of CD8+ T cells, epitope-specific cells ranged from 0.001% to 0.022% [corrected] by tetramer staining, with no significant difference among the three study groups. ⋯ JCV and BKV DNA were detected in 33.3% and 13.3% of all urine samples, respectively, independent of the presence of JCV-specific CTL. The detection of JCV DNA in the urine was associated with the presence of a JCV VP1(p100) CTL response. Immunotherapies aiming at increasing the cellular immune response against JCV may be valuable in the treatment of HIV+ individuals with PML.