Hereditary C1q deficiency and systemic lupus erythematosus.

We describe a 27-year-old women with systemic lupus erythematosus, C1q deficiency and cytomegalovirus retinitis. She suffered from severe SLE, with cutaneous and CNS involvement, and died of CNS disease aged 28. Review of 29 other published cases of C1q deficiency shows that SLE in these patients is often severe (five with CNS disease, ten with glomerulonephritis).

Induction of endogenous human cytomegalovirus gene expression after differentiation of monocytes from healthy carriers.

Monocytes are one site of carriage of the human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) genome in healthy human carriers. However, as there are conflicting data detailing the level of HCMV gene expression during persistence in these cells, we have analyzed monocytes for evidence of viral immediate-early, early, and late transcription by using reverse transcription followed by PCR. We were unable to find evidence of HCMV lytic gene transcription in freshly isolated peripheral blood monocytes from HCMV-seropositive subjects.

Subsets of CD8+, CD57+ cells in normal, healthy individuals: correlations with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) carrier status, phenotypic and functional analyses.

Two different subsets of CD8+, CD57+ cells have been defined, one expressing high levels (CD8high+(CD57+)), the other expressing low levels of surface CD8 (CD8low+(CD57+)). Increased numbers of CD8high+(CD57+) cells correlated with previous HCMV infection. By three-colour fluorescence analysis, the CD8high+(CD57+) population expressed T cell markers such as CD3 and CD5, and most were alpha beta T cell receptor (alpha beta TCR)-positive.

Polymorphonuclear cells are not sites of persistence of human cytomegalovirus in healthy individuals.

Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNL) have been shown to harbour human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in viraemic patients, but to date PMNL of asymptomatic healthy subjects have not been examined directly to determine whether this is a normal site of HCMV persistence. Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), paired DNA samples prepared from adherent peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), which are known to be a site of persistence of HCMV, and PMNL of 10 healthy adults were analysed. All of seven individuals who were HCMV seropositive, and one of three who were seronegative gave a reproducible signal for HCMV DNA in their adherent PBMC, whereas none of the paired PMNL DNA samples gave a positive result.

A significant age shift of the human parvovirus B19 antibody prevalence among young adults in Japan observed in a decade.

A seroepidemiological study on human parvovirus (B19) in Japan was undertaken with serum samples randomly collected from healthy Japanese populations (416 in 1973, 675 in 1984 and 508 in 1987/88). All samples were tested for anti-B19 IgG antibody by the indirect antigen-capture ELISA. The antibody prevalence for ages 0-9 years old in 1984 was significantly higher (16%) than that in 1973 (2%), whereas those for ages 20-29 years and 30-39 years were significantly lower in 1984 (20% and 56%) than in 1973 (67% and 80%) (p < 0.