Mononuclear subsets during cytomegalovirus disease in renal transplant recipients treated with cyclosporine and rabbit antithymocyte globulin.

The effect of cytomegalovirus (CMV) disease on mononuclear subpopulations of 49 renal transplant recipients treated with cyclosporine and prednisone are reported. Clinical overt CMV infection developed in 8/21 patients treated for rejection with rabbit antithymocyte globulin. They all showed true inversions of the T helper/T suppressor-cytotoxic (Th/Ts-c) ratio. A reduction of T helper cells and increase in T suppressor-cytotoxic cells preceded clinical symptoms of CMV disease by one week. None of the 26 patients without RATG anti-rejection treatment developed CMV disease and in only three of them an inversion of Th/Ts-c ratio was found.