Cytomegalovirus-related disease and risk of acute rejection in renal transplant recipients: a cohort study with case-control analyses

The relationship between a cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and the acute rejection of a renal transplant is not well established. The aim of the study was to document whether the clinical presentation of a CMV infection as a diffuse inflammatory disease or as a clinically asymtomatic illness is a risk factor of acute renal transplant rejection. One hundred and ninety-two consecutive renal transplant recipients were included in a historical cohort study for exposed - non exposed analyses. CMV infection after transplantation was the exposure factor. Before transplantation, 113 patients had antibodies against CMV and 79 were seronegative. The patients were divided into three groups: Group 1 consisted of 64 patients who had neither clinical signs of CMV disease nor CMV serological changes after transplantation, Group 2 consisted of 77 seropositive patients with asymptomatic viremia, and Group 3 consisted of 51 seropositive patients with clinical signs of diffuse inflammation that included fever, neutropenia, and various visceral involvements (CMV disease). Groups 2 and 3, the seropositive patients, were paired with Group 1 patients. Acute rejection was considered as CMV-induced when it occurred within one month following viremia, during the first year after transplantation. Transplant patients with CMV disease, had a significant likelihood of developing acute rejection after CMV infection or reactivation (P < 0.01). The odds ratio for developing rejection was 5.98, 95 % confidence interval: 1.21-29.40. Such a link was not documented for recipients with asymptomatic CMV infection. In conclusion CMV disease, but not asymptomatic viremia, is a risk factor of acute renal transplant rejection. On epidemiological grounds, these results support the hypothesis that factors controlling both the viral replication and the diffuse inflammatory process are implicated in acute graft rejection.