Comparison of the new Abbott Real Time CMV assay and the Abbott CMV PCR Kit for the quantitation of plasma cytomegalovirus DNAemia

Early Kinetics of Plasma Cytomegalovirus DNA Load in Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplant Recipients in the Era of Highly Sensitive Real-Time PCR Assays: Does It Have Any Clinical Value?

“…This cutoff approximately equates to that employed earlier, as the new RealTime PCR assay yields CMV DNA values of higher magnitude than the CMV PCR kit (10). The limits of detection and quantitation of both qRT-PCR assays are approximately 20 copies/ml (95% confidence interval [CI]) (4,11). Data from 17 patients guided by the Abbott CMV PCR kit had been previously reported (6).…”

“…For this analysis, CMV DNA load values obtained by the respective qRT-PCR assay were normalized to the 1st WHO International Standard for CMV for Nucleic Acid Amplification-Based Assays (National Institute for Biological Standards and Control, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom) and expressed in IU/ml (12). The conversion factors (from copies/ml to IU/ml) for the qRT-PCR assays employed in this study were previously defined (11). Overall, plasma CMV DNA loads were higher in the former group, although the differences did not reach statistical significance (Table 2).…”

Role of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific polyfunctional CD8+ T-cells and antibodies neutralizing virus epithelial infection in the control of CMV infection in an allogeneic stem-cell transplantation setting

“…Monitoring of plasma CMV DNAemia was performed once a week using a real-time PCR assay (CMV real-time PCR or Abbott RealTime CMV; Abbott Molecular) (Clari et al, 2013;Giménez et al, 2014;Gimeno et al, 2008). Patients were treated pre-emptively with antivirals as described previously Tormo et al, 2010aTormo et al, , b, 2011.…”

Preemptive antiviral therapy for CMV infection in allogeneic stem cell transplant recipients guided by the viral doubling time in the blood

“…This is because most commercially available QRT-PCR assays show an exquisite linearity above their limit of quantification, with slope coefficients that vary minimally and approach R2 values of 1. 8,9,12 Despite the advent of international standards for CMV DNA quantification, such as the one made available by the World Health Organization, 13 this can hardly be achieved by using preestablished CMV DNA cutoff values, given the suboptimal across-center precision and reproducibility of both in-house or commercially available QRT-PCR. 14 In summary, in this proof-of-principle study, we showed that the CMV dt in the blood compartment might be a valuable parameter for guiding preemptive antiviral therapy for both initial and recurrent episodes of active CMV infection developing in a subset of Allo-SCT recipients, particularly in those at highest risk of CMV disease.…”

“…CMV DNA load monitoring in plasma was performed as previously indicated, 3,5,7 using the new RealTime CMV PCR (Abbott Molecular, Des Plaines, IL, USA), whose limit of detection and quantification is 20 copies/mL (95% confidence interval). 8,9 Antiviral therapy with valganciclovir either at conventional doses (900 mg/12 h) or at reduced doses (450 mg/12 h) in patients meeting one or more of the following criteria: o 50 kg body weight, reduction of the glomerular filtrate ⩽ 60 mL/min per 1.73 m 2 , o1000 neutrophils/μL or o 50 000 platelets/μL, was initiated when the CMV dt was ⩽ 2.0 days, or alternatively when the plasma CMV DNA load reached levels of 41000 copies/mL, whichever occurred first. The CMV dts were calculated using the CMV DNA load values measured in the first two positive QRT-PCR results (Table 2).…”