Detection of active human cytomegalovirus in patients with multiple myeloma

BACKGROUND: Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection is ubiquitous and successfully reactivated in patients with immune dysfunction as in patient with multiple myeloma (MM), causing a wide range of life-threatening diseases. Early detection of HCMV and significant advances in MM management has amended patient outcomes and prolonged survival rates.OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study was to estimate the frequency of active HCMV in MM patients.MATERIALS AND METHODS: This is a case-control study involved 50 MM patients attending Hematology Center, Baghdad Teaching Hospital; 25 of them were newly diagnosed and 25 on treatment compared to 50 of apparently healthy control. HCMV-viral load was measured using a real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).RESULTS: Active HCMV was detected in 8 patients out of 50 (16%); 6/25 (24%) in newly diagnosed and 2/25 (8%) on treatment and had autologous bone marrow transplant with mean +/- standard deviation of 910 x 1010 +/- 210 x 1010, and 32,000 x 1010 +/- 1500 x 1010 IU/mL, respectively. HCMV viremia is equally detected in both remission and relapsed cases.CONCLUSION: RT-PCR detected a significant number of MM patients infected by cytomegalovirus compared to healthy individuals. Further studies are needed to verify if this finding has a relation to etiology or disease progression.