Zytomegalievirus nach Nierentransplantation

Background

Despite widespread use of antiviral cytomegalovirus (CMV) prophylaxis, active CMV infections with progression to CMV disease remain of paramount importance after renal transplantation, which can lead to severe complications particularly in CMV seronegative recipients of a CMV seropositive donor kidney.

Objective

Risk stratification of active CMV infections and CMV disease, immune reactivity, clinical challenges, and development of approaches to disease management.

Methods

Discussion of recent developments and expert recommendations.

Results

There is a particularly high risk for the development of active CMV infections and CMV disease in CMV seronegative recipients of a CMV seropositive donor kidney. In this case CMV prophylaxis followed by preemptive therapy is recommended. The focus of this combined strategy is to prevent severe tissue-invasive CMV disease and to reduce the indirect effects of active CMV infections with inferior patient and transplant survival. Patients at increased risk who do not generate adequate CMV-specific cellular immunity after transplantation, nevertheless develop severe and occasionally recurrent active CMV infections after termination of prophylactic measures. In the case of life-threatening therapy-resistant CMV disease, adoptive transfer of CMV-specific T?cells has been proven to be a safe and effective therapy option.

Conclusion

Clinically problematic courses of active CMV infections are limited to those patients with severely impaired CMV-specific immunity. The quantification of CMV-specific cellular immunity represents an appropriate instrument to achieve a better stratification of the risk of active CMV infections in patients at increased risk and is the subject of current research studies.