Influence of HIV infection on cytomegalovirus-specific immunity: T-cell responses to pp65 and IE1 before and after HAART may reflect altered cytomegalovirus biology.

Background: Data are inconclusive whether treatment with HAART induces functional recovery of HIV-specific T-cells. Since the introduction of HAART, a marked decrease of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease - for which untreated HIV-infected individuals are at increased risk - is observed, suggesting that this treatment influences CMV-specific T-cell immunity.

Methods: To study potential functional recovery of HIV- and CMV-specific T-cells, CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cell responses were measured longitudinally after in vitro expansion using gag, pp65 and IE1 peptide pools, during HIV infection and after long-term HAART.

Efficient replication of pneumonia virus of mice (PVM) in a mouse macrophage cell line.

Pneumonia virus of mice (PVM; family Paramyxoviridae, subfamily Pneumovirinae) is a natural respiratory pathogen of rodent species and an important new model for the study of severe viral bronchiolitis and pneumonia. However, despite high virus titers typically detected in infected mouse lung tissue in vivo, cell lines used routinely for virus propagation in vitro are not highly susceptible to PVM infection. We have evaluated several rodent and primate cell lines for susceptibility to PVM infection, and detected highest virus titers from infection of the mouse monocyte-macrophage RAW 264.