Cytomegalovirus glycoprotein B sequence variation in Chinese liver transplant recipients

摘要

Objective: To investigate human cytomegalovirus infec-tion and genetic variations in glycoprotein B(gB) inliver transplant recipients in south-east China.Methods:EDTA-blood samples were obtained from 21liver transplant recipients. The semi-nested PCR wasused to amplify a region of high sequence variabilityin the gB gene of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV)followed by direct sequence analysis.Results: Out of the 21 liver transplant recipients, 5were proved HCMV positive 62 to 180 days aftertransplantation. The nucleotide and encoded aminoacid sequences were compared with published se-quences of AD169 and Towne laboratory strains.Within the region sequenced, 2 out of 5 strains pos-sessed a peptide configuration similar to that of strainAD169, while another 2 strains displayed a peptideconfiguration similar to that of strain Towne. Onestrain had amino acid substitution, which was differ-ent from those of both AD169 and Towne in thecleavage site.Conclusion: Our results provide molecular epidemio-logical data for HCMV strains circulating among trans-plant recipients in south-east China.