Explore the vast range of titles available.

Background CMV gastroenteritis is common in patients receiving allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and it is difficult to distinguish from acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD), which has very similar symptoms but needs quite different treatment. CMV gastroenteritis is caused by local infection or reactivation of CMV in the gastrointestinal tract while aGvHD is due to immune rejection. The gold standard of diagnosis of CMV gastroenteritis and aGvHD is gastrointestinal biopsy under endoscopy, which is invasive and can potentially lead to severe side effects. Stool samples testing with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) may be an alternative, while the application in trace level measurements and precision are not all satisfactory enough in reported research. Methods In this study, we designed a novel method that extracted the cell free DNA (cfDNA) from the fecal supernatant to perform digital PCR (dPCR) for the detection of CMV, analyzed the performance and compared it with the total DNA extracted by the current procedure. Results Twenty-two paired stool samples using two DNA extraction methods proved that the cfDNA extraction method had markedly higher DNA concentrations and control gene copy number, suggesting that cfDNA may be more informative and more useful for the detection of CMV DNA segment. The dPCR approach in detecting CMV DNA segment also exhibit good linearity (R 2  = 0.997) and higher sensitivity (limit of detection at 50% was 3.534 copies/μL). Eighty-two stool samples from 44 immunocompromised patients were analyzed, CMV-positive rate was 28%, indicating that more than one-quarter of the gastrointestinal symptoms within these patients may be caused by CMV infection or reactivation. Conclusion The combined results suggest that detection of CMV by dPCR in cfDNA of stool supernatant is a powerful method to identify CMV gastroenteritis and helps in clinical treatment decision making.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is common worldwide, but the majority are asymptomatic. However, during initial infection or reactivation, CMV can cause tissue-invasive end-organ damage including in the gastrointestinal tract, especially in immunocompromised individuals. Gastrointestinal CMV disease can present with myriad of symptoms and be highly variable endoscopically. In this article we review the manifestations of CMV infection within the luminal gastrointestinal tract and discuss the options for diagnosis and management.

Background: Viral infections represent a major challenge in modern medicine, including diseases caused by human papillomavirus (HPV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and rotavirus, which are among the most prevalent viral pathogens. The rapid transmission and high mutation rates of these viruses contribute to substantial health burdens and socio economic consequences. Silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) and titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) are effective antiviral agents. The major objective of this investigation was to measure the antiviral activity of titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2-NPs) and green-produced silver nanoparticles (Ag NPs) against rotavirus, HPV, and CMV. Methods: UV-Vis spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction (XRD) were used to characterize the nanoparticles. Cytotoxicity and antiviral activity were evaluated using a crystal violet assay in infected cell cultures. Results: The main findings indicate that both Ag NPs and TiO2-NPs exhibited pronounced antiviral activity against HPV, CMV, and rotavirus. Ag NPs exhibited strong antiviral activity, with lower IC50 values against HPV and CMV; however, this effect was associated with lower cytotoxic concentration (CC50) and selectivity index (SI) values, indicating higher cytotoxicity. In contrast, TiO2-NPs demonstrated a favorable safety profile, as indicated by higher CC50 value particularly against CMV (863.90 µg/mL) and rotavirus (386.84 µg/mL)—and low cytotoxicity toward host cells—highlighting their strong antiviral selectivity and therapeutic potential. Conclusions: Overall, these findings suggest that, while Ag-NPs possess strong antiviral efficacy, TiO2 NPs offer a more balanced combination of antiviral effectiveness and biosafety and may therefore be more promising candidates for antiviral applications.

Regarding viral infection of intestinal mucosa, there have been only a few studies on limited diseases, targeting a few herpes family viruses. In this study, we analyzed 12 kinds of DNA viruses including 8 species of herpes family viruses in the gastrointestinal mucosa of patients with hematologic malignancies, inflammatory bowel diseases, collagen diseases, or other miscellaneous forms of gastroenteritis using the multiplex virus PCR assay, which we recently developed. The virus PCR assay yielded positive results in 63 of 102 patients; Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) was the most frequently detected, followed by cytomegalovirus (CMV), human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6), HHV-7, parvovirus B19, and herpes simplex virus type 1. The frequencies of viral detection in the 4 diseases were similar involving these 6 viruses. Regarding CMV colitis, the multiplex virus PCR assay was superior to the immunohistopathologic method in detecting CMV. All viruses were more efficiently detected in the mucosa than in the blood in individual patients. These results suggest that CMV, EBV, and HHV-6 were commonly detected in the gastrointestinal mucosa of patients with these 4 diseases, and our multiplex virus PCR assay was useful for the early diagnosis of gastrointestinal virus infection, especially CMV colitis.

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection of the gastrointestinal tract is the most common manifestation of tissue-invasive CMV disease, and is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the solid organ transplantation (SOT) recipient. In addition to the direct effects of the infection, its indirect effects on allograft function, risk for other opportunistic infections, and mortality are significant in this population. The most common clinical syndromes are esophagitis, colitis, and hepatitis; however, infection can occur anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract. Diagnosis is usually by histopathology or viral culture of tissue specimens; molecular assays also often have a role. Antivirals are the cornerstone of therapy for gastrointestinal tract CMV disease and complications such as recurrent infection and antiviral resistance are not uncommon. Prevention with antiviral prophylaxis or preemptive therapy is important. This review summarizes recent data regarding the clinical manifestations, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of gastrointestinal tract CMV infection in the SOT population.

We prospectively evaluated a risk-adapted pre-emptive treatment with ganciclovir for CMV diseases in patients undergoing allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). High-level CMV antigenemia (10 or more positive cells on two slides) or CMV antigenemia at any level in patients with grade II-IV acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) were chosen as risk factors. We also retrospectively evaluated virus reactivation in plasma using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Fifty patients were evaluable. None of the 27 patients with or without grade I aGVHD developed high-level CMV antigenemia or CMV disease. Among the 23 patients with grade II-IV aGVHD, 12 patients (52%) developed CMV antigenemia and were treated pre-emptively, of whom two developed CMV gastroenteritis or retinitis in spite of therapy. Six of the remaining 11 patients developed CMV gastroenteritis before CMV antigenemia was detectable. All of the eight patients with CMV diseases were successfully treated with ganciclovir and no deaths directly related to CMV disease occurred. In four of the seven evaluable patients with CMV gastroenteritis, real-time PCR was able to detect virus reactivation earlier than CMV antigenemia. Although our risk-adapted pre-emptive therapy effectively reduced CMV-related mortality, further refinements of this approach, particularly in the prevention of CMV gastroenteritis, may be achieved by incorporating real-time PCR.