CMV-SPECIFIC CELLULAR IMMUNITY IN RECIPIENTS OF ALLOGENIC BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT

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This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. The purpose of this study is to determine whether an experimental test for immunity to CMV can determine when immunity to this virus is present after transplantation and whether the test can predict that a person is protected from serious CMV infections after transplantation. Participation in this study is expected to last approximately 5 days for donors, and for 1 year for transplant recipients. An ability to protect yourself from CMV infection is called CMV-specific cellular immunity. This immunity is among the most important factors that determine whether you will get a serious CMV infection after transplantation. There are various ways to measure this immunity. One of the most important ways is to determine if your lymphocytes (cell immunity) can kill CMV-infected cells. This is called a CTL assay. It is known that persons who develop good CTL levels have protection against severe CMV infection after transplantation. The CTL test is difficult to perform and an experimental test has been developed to try to predict whether or not a person is immune. This experimental test is called the HLA-peptide tetramer binding assay (TBA), and, although it is known that the TBA works well in the test tube, it has not yet been evaluated in persons undergoing transplantation. The goals of this study are to determine how best to perform the TBA test for transplant patients and to determine whether or not your TBA levels predict whether you will be protected from CMV infection or disease after transplant. Another goal of this study will be to determine what effects your treatments have on your levels of CMV immunity as measured by this experimental test and other tests of immunity.