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Biomedical subjects

M P Busch

Publications and source records attributed to M P Busch.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Survival of donor leukocyte subpopulations in immunocompetent transfusion recipients: frequent long-term microchimerism in severe trauma patients.

We recently reported detection of a transient increase in circulating donor leukocytes (WBCs) in immunocompetent recipients 3 to 5 days posttransfusion (tx) (Blood 85:1207, 1995). We have now characterized survival kinetics of specific donor WBC subsets in additional tx populations. Eight female elective surgery patients (pts) were sampled pre-tx and on days 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 post-tx. Ten female trauma pts transfused with a total of 4 to 18 U of relatively fresh red blood cells were sampled up to 1.5 years post-tx. WBC subsets from frozen whole blood were isolated using CD4, CD8 (T cell), CD15 (myeloid), and CD19 (B cell) antibody-coated magnetic beads. Donor WBCs were counted by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of male-specific sex determining region (SRY) sequences. PCR HLA typing and mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR) between recipient and donor WBCs were performed on two of the trauma tx recipients who had long-term chimerism of donor cells post-tx. In 6 of 8 female surgery pts, circulating CD4(+) male donor cells peaked at day 3 or 5 (0.01 to 1 cell/microL), followed by clearance by day 14. In 7 of 10 female trauma pts, we observed multilineage persistence of male donor WBCs (CD4, CD8, CD15, CD19) for 6 months to 1.5 years post-tx at concentrations of 10 to 100 cells/microL. In 2 trauma recipients studied, MLR showed no, or very low, response to WBC of the single donor implicated as the source of microchimerism by HLA typing. Establishment of long-term multilineage chimerism in trauma recipients is probably caused by engraftment of donor stem cells and mutual tolerance between recipient and donor leukocytes. A better understanding of factors determining clearance versus chimerism of transfused leukocytes is critical to prevention of alloimmunization and transfusion-induced graft-versus-host disease, and, potentially, to induction of tolerance for transplantation.

Accidents, Traffic

New testing strategy to detect early HIV-1 infection for use in incidence estimates and for clinical and prevention purposes.

CONTEXT: Differentiating individuals with early human immunodeficiency virus 1 (HIV-1) infection from those infected for longer periods is difficult but important for estimating HIV incidence and for purposes of clinical care and prevention. OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a serologic testing algorithm in which HIV-1-positive persons with reactive test results on a sensitive HIV-1 enzyme immunoassay (EIA) but nonreactive results on a less sensitive (LS) EIA are identified as having early infection. DESIGN: Diagnostic test and testing strategy development, validation, and application. Specimens were tested with both a sensitive HIV-1 EIA (3A11 assay) and a less sensitive modification of the same EIA (3A11-LS assay). SETTINGS AND PARTICIPANTS: For assay development: 104 persons seroconverting to HIV-1 comprising 38 plasma donors, 18 patients of a sexually transmitted disease clinic in Trinidad, and 48 participants in the San Francisco Men's Health Study (SFMHS); 268 men without the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the SFMHS who had been infected for at least 2.5 years; and 207 persons with clinical AIDS; for testing strategy validation: 488 men in the SFMHS from 1985 through 1990 and 1275449 repeat blood donors at 3 American Red Cross blood centers from 1993 through 1995; and for HIV-1 incidence estimates: 2717910 first-time blood donors. We retrospectively identified persons eligible for a study of early infection. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Ability to identify early HIV infection. RESULTS: Estimated mean time from being 3A11 reactive/3A11-LS nonreactive to being 3A11 reactive/3A11-LS reactive was 129 days (95% confidence interval [CI], 109-149 days) [corrected]. Our testing strategy accurately diagnosed 95% of persons with early infection; however, 0.4% (1/268) of men with established infection and 2% (5/207) of persons with late-stage AIDS were misdiagnosed as having early HIV-1 infection. Average yearly incidence estimates in SFMHS subjects were 1.5% per year vs observed average incidence of 1.4 per 100 person-years. Incidence in repeat blood donors using the sensitive/less sensitive assay testing strategy was 2.95 per 100000 per year (95% CI, 1.14-6.53/100000) vs observed incidence of 2.60 per 100000 person-years (95% CI, 1.49-4.21/100000). Overall incidence in first-time blood donors was 7.18 per 100000 per year (95% CI, 4.51-11.20/100000) and did not change statistically significantly between 1993 and 1996. Use of the sensitive/less sensitive testing strategy alone would have identified all 17 persons with antibodies to HIV-1 eligible for a study of early HIV-1 infection and would have increased enrollment. CONCLUSIONS: The sensitive/less sensitive testing strategy provides accurate diagnosis of early HIV-1 infection, provides accurate estimates of HIV-1 incidence, can facilitate clinical studies of early HIV-1 infection, and provides information on HIV-1 infection duration for care planning.

AIDS Serodiagnosis

A prospective study of the risk of transfusion-acquired viral infections.

The risk of transfusion-transmitted viral infections may be estimated by several methods, but only prospective studies of transfusion recipients can directly measure the incidence, with associated 95% upper confidence bound, of these infections. From 1989 through 1995, 764 recipients of allogeneic or autologous red blood cell transfusions were enrolled; 486 (64%) provided both pretransfusion and 6-month follow-up specimens. Both specimens were tested for anti-HBc, anti-HCV, anti-HTLV-I and anti-HIV, with appropriate confirmatory testing. Thirty-nine (8.0%) subjects had seroprevalent anti-HBc, 19 (3.9%) subjects had seroprevalent anti-HCV, three (0.6%) subjects had seroprevalent anti-HTLV-I/II, and one (0.2%) subject had seroprevalent anti-HIV. There were no seroconversions for any agent among the 34 patients who received only autologous blood, and no confirmed seroconversions for anti-HTLV-I or anti-HIV among all subjects. There were three seroconversions for anti-HBc (incidence 1.04 x 10(-3); 95% confidence interval (CI) 2.15 x 10(-4), 3.05 x 10(-3) per allogeneic unit transfused), and two confirmed seroconversions for HCV (incidence 6.94 x 10(-4); 95% CI 8.34 x 10(-5), 2.51 x 10(-3) per allogeneic unit transfused). One of the two anti-HCV seroconversions occurred in March 1994, after the institution of HCV EIA 2.0 screening of donated blood. Transfusion-associated seroconversions to hepatitis B and C markers were observed at low rates in the early 1990s despite testing donors for markers of both viruses, whereas seroconversions to HTLV-I or HIV were less than 1.04 x 10(3) per allogeneic unit transfused, based upon the upper 95% confidence interval of the zero incidence in this study.

Adult

Quantitation of white cell subpopulations by polymerase chain reaction using frozen whole-blood samples. Viral Activation Transfusion Study.

BACKGROUND: Previous methods for processing whole blood (WB) for nucleic acid analyses of white cells (WBCs) required fresh blood samples. A simple protocol that involves the freezing of WB for quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analyses was evaluated. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Controlled studies were conducted in which paired fresh and frozen WB preparations were analyzed. The integrity of WBCs in the frozen WB samples was first assessed by flow cytometry using CD45 fluorescence, and calibration beads to quantitate recovery of WBC subsets. PCR of an HLA-DQ-A sequence was used to quantitate residual WBCs in a double-filtered red cell (RBC) component spiked with serial dilutions of WBCs, as well as in 51 filtered RBCs and 19 filtered platelet concentrates. Y-chromosome-specific PCR was used to quantitate male WBCs in five female WB samples spiked with serial dilutions of male WBCs and in serially collected frozen WB samples from four females transfused with male blood components. RESULTS: By flow cytometry, all major WBC subpopulations in frozen-thawed WB were quantitatively recovered and immunologically intact, although they were nonviable. HLA-DQ-A PCR quantitation of a dilution series from 8 to 16,700 per mL of WBCs spiked into double-filtered RBCs showed linear correlation of the results with both fresh and frozen preparations of the expected WBC concentrations (r2 = 0.98, p<0.0001 for both), without significant difference between observed and expected values (p>0.05). Y-chromosome-specific PCR results in female WB samples spiked with male WBCs were not significantly different in fresh and frozen preparations over a 3 log10 range of male cells. The results of WBC survival studies on frozen WB samples were consistent with previous observations in fresh blood samples. CONCLUSION: Direct freezing of WB enables subsequent recovery of WBCs for quantitative PCR analyses, with results comparable to those of fresh preparations.This protocol should facilitate wider implementation of nucleic acid-based analyses for quality control of WBC-reduced components, as well as for prospective clinical studies of microchimerism in transfusion and transplant recipients.

Blood Transfusion

Demographic characteristics, unreported risk behaviors, and the prevalence and incidence of viral infections: a comparison of apheresis and whole-blood donors. The Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study.

BACKGROUND: The demographics, deferrable risk behaviors, and the prevalence and incidence of viral infections of apheresis (PH) and whole-blood (WB) donors were compared, to characterize these two populations and to evaluate the relative safety of PH and WB donors in terms of transfusion-transmitted viral infections. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: A comparison was made of 36,119 PH donors (> or = 1 PH donation) and 1.38 million WB donors (> or = 1 WB donation) in terms of demographics and the prevalence (/100,000 donors) and incidence (/100,000 person-years) of viral infections, by using data collected at five United States blood collection centers between 1991 and 1994. Deferrable risk behaviors were defined as those risk behaviors that would have resulted in donor deferral, had they been reported. The prevalence of deferrable risk behaviors was estimated by using data collected through an anonymous mail survey. RESULTS: PH donors were older and more likely than repeat (2+ donations) WB donors to be female, white, and United States-born and to have a higher degree of education (p < or = 0.001). The prevalence of any viral infection was 50 percent higher in WB donors than in PH donors (p = 0.04), whereas the incidence of HIV, human T-lymphotropic virus, and hepatitis B surface antigen was nonsignificantly higher in WB donors. The prevalence of deferrable risk behaviors did not differ in the two groups. CONCLUSION: Further studies will be needed to evaluate whether the difference in the prevalence of viral infections observed in this study can be explained by demographic characteristics and patterns of donation frequency.

Blood Component Removal

Distribution of HIV type 1 (HIV-1) in blood components: detection and significance of high levels of HIV-1 associated with platelets.

BACKGROUND: Although inactivation of enveloped viruses transmitted by plasma derivatives has been successful, no methods for virus inactivation or removal have been established for platelet concentrates or red cell (RBC) components. Relatively little is known regarding the extent or significance of virus interactions with the cellular constituents in these components. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Units of whole blood were collected from six HIV type 1 (HIV-1)-positive, asymptomatic individuals and separated into peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMNCs), cell-free plasma, white cell-reduced platelet concentrate, and white cell-reduced RBCs. DNA and RNA polymerase chain reaction and virus culture methods were used to study the compartmentalization of HIV-1 immediately after component preparation and after storage. RESULTS: As expected, HIV DNA and infectious virus were detected in fresh blood and in PBMNCs, and virion-associated RNA was detected in fresh plasma from all six donors. The levels of viral nucleic acids in these preparations remained relatively stable with 4 degrees C storage, whereas infectivity of PBMNCs was rapidly lost. Washed RBCs tested negative for HIV in all assays at all time points. Platelets retained high levels of HIV RNA (but not infectivity) after extensive washing, as well as after storage at 4 and 22 degrees C. High-level platelet-associated HIV-1 was also demonstrated in samples collected during early seroconversion. Periseroconversion and postseroconversion levels of platelet-associated HIV-1 correlated with the level of plasma viremia and with the rate of progression to AIDS. Cell-free virus from donor plasma and tissue culture fluid rapidly and firmly attached to platelets from noninfected donors. Infectivity of tissue culture virus bound to platelets was demonstrated in vitro. CONCLUSION: Significant levels of HIV-1 are associated with platelets during all stages of infection. Platelet-associated HIV could either mediate virus clearance or facilitate virus dissemination and expanded tropism. Finally, virus inactivation research must address virus associations with platelets.

Blood Platelets

Measurement of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 plasma virus load based on reverse transcriptase (RT) activity: evidence of variabilities in levels of virion-associated RT.

Virus load based on levels of functional reverse transcriptase (RT) was measured in plasma from 50 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1-infected persons, in 87 samples from 10 HIV-1 seroconversion panels, and in 100 uninfected persons by use of Amp-RT, an ultrasensitive RT assay. Of the 50 clinical samples, 38 (76%) were Amp-RT positive, while all uninfected controls were negative. Pearson's correlation coefficient of RNA and RT levels was .73 for all samples, .86 for seroconversion samples, and .49 for clinical samples. Calculated ratios of RT activity to virion RNA varied widely during both early and late stages of infection. Mean RT:RNA ratios in 8 seroconversion panels and in 12 (34.3%) of 35 individual clinical samples were significantly lower than the ratio for a reference virus. However, ratios were stable in individual seroconversions over time. These data demonstrate that RT activity can be used to quantitate plasma virus load and provide evidence of different levels of virion-associated RT among HIV-1-infected persons.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

A 32-bp deletion within the CCR5 locus protects against transmission of parenterally acquired human immunodeficiency virus but does not affect progression to AIDS-defining illness.

The beta-chemokine receptor CCR5 is required as a coreceptor by non-syncytium-inducing (NSI) strains of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1). NSI viruses predominate early during an infection and are thought to be important for the transmission of HIV-1. The importance of CCR5 during parenteral transmission of HIV-1 was investigated. The distribution of the homozygous deleted CCR5 genotype among 566 exposed persons with hemophilia and 97 exposed transfusion recipients indicated that the lack of CCR5 expression protected persons from infection. This suggests that the initial predominance of NSI viruses during an infection does not result from limited availability of CXCR4-expressing cells within the mucosa but rather implies a more fundamental requisite for CCR5-expressing cells early during an infection regardless of the route of transmission. In addition, no difference in the rate of progression to AIDS (CDC 1987 definition) of infected heterozygous compared with homozygous wild type subjects was observed.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Lymphocyte subset analysis on frozen whole blood.

An approach to perform lymphocyte subset analysis on frozen-thawed whole blood (F/T WB) is described. WB from 24 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) seropositive individuals and 21 controls was analyzed fresh and after frozen storage (with or without dimethyl sulfoxide) at -80 degrees C, in liquid nitrogen (LN2), and at -20 degrees C. Analysis of F/T WB utilized 3-color flow cytometry with CD45 and right angle light scatter gating. Absolute cell counts were obtained for 30 samples by using staining tubes containing internal bead standards [TruCount, Becton Dickinson Immunocytometry Systems (BDIS), San Jose, CA]. The mean difference between CD3+4+ percentages for F/T (-80 degrees C storage for up to 1 year) and fresh WB was less than -0.2% (95% limits +/-3%, P = 0.5) with 39 of 45 (87%) results falling within 2% of the fresh values (P = 0.74). Absolute CD3+4+ cell counts for F/T WB were generally lower than corresponding results for fresh aliquots (median difference was 33 cells/microl, P < 0.0001), but the results were highly correlated (r2 = 0.975, P < 0.0001). Results were more variable, although still highly correlated, for CD3+8+ cells, and with other freezing and storage conditions. It is concluded that lymphocyte subset analysis using F/T WB yields comparable results to fresh samples, which should prove useful for a number of practical applications.

Blood Preservation

Safety of the blood supply in the United States: opportunities and controversies.

The risk for viral transmission by transfusion has been reduced dramatically through improved techniques for selecting and testing blood donors. Initiatives to further improve the safety of the blood supply, including more stringent donor qualifications, additional testing for infectious disease markers, viral inactivation processes, and refinement of transfusion decisions, are possible. However, because the risk for viral transmission by allogeneic transfusion is already low, additional measures will have limited yield and poor cost-effectiveness. Furthermore, unexpected side effects of some of these "improvements" may reduce the safety of the blood supply by introducing new risks. Cost-effectiveness analyses of blood safety initiatives have highlighted such successes as the introduction of virus-specific assays for screening donated blood and have identified other interventions that have poor cost-effectiveness estimates. They have also quantitated the threshold level at which the risks of an intervention outweigh its benefits. These analyses have had little effect on decisions about blood safety, possibly because of overwhelming fear of AIDS and difficulties in applying cost-effectiveness estimates to a politically and emotionally charged issue. Future interventions for improving blood supply safety must be evaluated thoroughly and chosen carefully so that the intended goals are met. Communication with the public should be undertaken so that the public understands that some of the desired measures may result in inefficient allocation of health care resources.

Blood Donors

Role of viral load in heterosexual transmission of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 by blood transfusion recipients. Transfusion Safety Study Group.

Eighteen transfusion recipients infected with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) were followed prospectively with their 19 long-term sexual partners from 1986 to 1993 in California, Florida, and New York. Follow-up included clinical, behavioral, immunologic, serologic, and virologic evaluations. Two partners were already infected when seen 18 and 34 months after sexual contact began following the infectious transfusion. Four of 17 initially seronegative partners seroconverted during 23 person-years of observation. The recipient's clinical status, mononuclear cell subset variations, and time trend in CD4+ counts had no association with transmission. Individual plasma HIV-1 ribonucleic acid (RNA) loads were stable during observation, and sexual transmission was not attributable to an upward trend or transient burst in viremia. However, recipients who transmitted HIV-1 to their sexual partners had higher mean viral RNA levels than did nontransmitting recipients (4.3 vs. 3.6 log10 copies/ml; p = 0.05). Although this series was small, the prospective observations suggest that viral load was the only characteristic in the recipient that contributed to heterosexual infectiousness.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome

Recruitment of engrafted donor cells postnatally into the blood with cytokines after in utero transplantation in mice.

BACKGROUND: We have previously shown that MHC-mismatched fetal liver cells can durably engraft in 45% of nondefective fetal mice, although male donor cells were found in the blood in only 8% of female recipients. We postulated that adult bone marrow stem cells would engraft similarly to fetal liver cells and that postnatal administration of cytokines would recruit donor cells into the peripheral circulation. METHODS: Bone marrow from C57BL/6 adult male mice was injected into allogeneic BALB/c or congenic C57BL/6 fetal recipients that were 11-13 days old. Engraftment was tested by quantitative polymerase chain reaction for the Y chromosome in female recipients (0.0001% sensitivity). Recipients were injected at 1-2 years of age with rat stem cell factor (SCF) and human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) for 7 days and tested for donor cells in the blood. RESULTS: The overall engraftment rate (in the blood, spleen, or liver) was 44% in both female allogeneic and congenic bone marrow recipients. Of 49 recipients of bone marrow or fetal liver cells with no evidence of donor cells in the blood before injection, 29 (59%) developed circulating donor cells at some time after cytokine injection for up to 2 months. Twenty-seven of 49 animals were negative in the blood, liver, and spleen before cytokine therapy; 14 of 27 (52%) became positive in the blood after stem cell factor/granulocyte colony-stimulating factor injection. Tolerance to donor skin grafts was not altered by the mobilization of donor cells into the circulation. CONCLUSIONS: Adult bone marrow durably engrafts in nondefective mice at a rate similar to that previously obtained with fetal liver. Engrafted donor cells can be mobilized with cytokines into the circulation for up to 2 months even in animals with no evidence of donor cells in the blood, liver, or spleen. Based on these results we estimate that 70-75% of hematopoietically nondefective fetal mice engraft with MHC-mismatched fetal liver or adult bone marrow stem cells.

Animals

Comparative rates of disease progression among persons infected with the same or different HIV-1 strains. The Transfusion Safety Study Group.

Rates of HIV-1 progression vary widely. To investigate the relative effects of viral and host characteristics on course, we compared persons infected by the same and different subtype B strains. Forty-three infection chain clusters were identified, each defined by an infected blood donor, that donor's recipients, and the recipients' sexual partners, representing second and third generations of infection. Analysis of levels and rates of change in CD4 lymphocyte counts and viral load showed that members within a cluster were no more alike in their rates of change in CD4+ lymphocyte counts or viral RNA levels than among clusters. Differences in entry viral RNA levels by cluster were marginal and markedly smaller than interindividual differences. These results argue that, in general, host factors outweigh differences in viral strain in determining HIV-1 disease progression.

Blood Donors

Time course of viremia and antibody seroconversion following human immunodeficiency virus exposure.

Rational application of diagnostic assays in the management of healthcare workers (HCWs) following occupational exposure is needed to rule out pre-existing human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, detect HIV infection or seroconversion as early as possible in the small proportion individuals who become infected, and to rule out infection in the high proportion of individuals who remain uninfected following occupational exposure to HIV. An understanding of the time course of viremia and seroconversion following HIV exposure is essential in developing recommendations for management of occupational exposure among HCWs. Several data sources that address the timing and dynamics of HIV viremia and seroconversion following primary infection are reviewed. The implications of each data source for management of occupational exposure among HCWs is assessed. Although the majority of infected HCWs seroconvert within 2 months of exposure, the possibility of delayed seroconversion is well established, with approximately 5% of infected HCWs estimated to seroconvert >6 months after exposure. In contrast, the period of viremia (detectable by p24 antigen or RNA assays) preceding antibody seroconversion is consistently brief (1-3 weeks). Animal inoculation studies indicate that a variable period of localized viral replication in lymphoid tissue draining inoculation sites exists prior to systemic viremia and subsequent seroconversion.

Animals