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. 2022 Nov 1;9(12):ofac569.
doi: 10.1093/ofid/ofac569. eCollection 2022 Dec.

Longitudinal Virological and Immunological Profile in a Case of Human Monkeypox Infection

Maria Antonella Zingaropoli  1 , Alberico Parente  1 , Blerta Kertusha  2 , Roberta Campagna  3 , Tiziana Tieghi  2 , Silvia Garattini  1 , Raffaella Marocco  2 , Anna Carraro  1 , Eeva Tortellini  1 , Mariasilvia Guardiani  1 , Federica Dominelli  1 , Ombretta Turriziani  3 , Maria Rosa Ciardi  1 , Claudio Maria Mastroianni  1 , Cosmo Del Borgo  2 , Miriam Lichtner  2   4
Affiliations

Longitudinal Virological and Immunological Profile in a Case of Human Monkeypox Infection

Maria Antonella Zingaropoli et al. Open Forum Infect Dis. .

Abstract

In a male with severe proctitis, monkeypox virus DNA was detected in skin lesions, blood, the nasopharynx, and the rectum, underlying generalized viral spreading. Rectal involvement was still found when skin lesions disappeared. At this early stage, an increase of cytotoxic and activated T cells was observed, while a reduction in CD56dimCD57+ NK cells compared with recovery time point was observed.

Keywords: MPXV; NK cells; flow cytometry; immunophenotyping; proctitis.

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Conflict of interest statement

Potential conflicts of interest. All authors: no reported conflicts of interest. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Timeline.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Virological and immunological evaluation over time. The longitudinal evaluation of MPXV DNA was performed by real-time PCR on blood samples, nasopharyngeal swabs, and anorectal swabs. Ct values are reported. The percentages of NK cell (CD56, CD16, and CD57), T cell (CD3, CD4 and CD8, CD27 and CD45RO), Tfh (CD45RO and CXCR5), and monocyte/macrophage markers (HLA-DR, CD14, CD16, CD11c, and CD123) were investigated. As co-expression of CD38 and HLA-DR is the key phenotype of the activation of CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in response to viral infections, we analyzed the co-expression of CD38 and HLA-DR. The immunosenescent T-cell phenotype was evaluated as a lack of CD28 expression and expression of the senescence marker CD57 [3]. Abbreviations: Ct, cycle threshold; MPXV, monkeypox virus; NK, natural killer; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; Tfh, T follicular helper.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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