Effect of cryopreservation on measurement of cytomegalovirus-specific cellular immune responses in HIV-infected patients

To determine the feasibility of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific cell-mediated immunity (CMI) studies using cryopreserved cells, we compared lymphocyte proliferation assays (LPA), responder cell frequency (RCF), interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) production using fresh and cryopreserved peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from 53 HIV-infected patients and 15 uninfected controls. Qualitative CMV LPA results were concordant in greater than or equal to 84% of the specimens from either HIV-infected patients or controls. Proliferation-based RCF, IL-2, and IFN-gamma, comparisons showed that cryopreservation reduces the number of CMV-specific responders and decreases cytokine secretion, without changing the rank order of the results (p < .01). In contrast, the number of flow cytometry-enumerated IFN-<gamma>-producing CD4(+) cells was not significantly changed by cryopreservation. In HIV-infected patients, the differences between fresh and frozen cell assays were not influenced by CD4 cell numbers or HIV viral load. These data indicate that cryopreserved cells are suitable for longitudinal studies of the CMV-specific immune response in HIV-infected patients and uninfected controls.