NK cell and Th17 responses are differentially induced in murine cytomegalovirus infected renal allografts and vary according to recipient virus dose and strain.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) donor positive (D+) serostatus with acute rejection is associated with renal allograft loss, but the impact of recipient positive (R+) serostatus is unclear. In an allogeneic renal transplant model, antiviral natural killer (NK) and CD8+ T cell memory responses in murine CMV (MCMV) D+/R+ transplants were compared to D-/R- and D+/R- transplants, with recipient infection varied by MCMV dose and strain. D+/R- transplants had high primary antiviral cytolytic (interferon-γ+) and cytotoxic (granzyme B+) NK responses, whereas NK memory responses were lower in D+/R+ recipients receiving a high primary MCMV dose.