Effectiveness of RSVIG prophylaxis and therapy of respiratory syncytial virus in an immunosuppressed animal model

• Published in: Bone marrow transplantation (Basingstoke) Vol. 24; no. 1; pp. 41 - 45
• Main Authors: OTTOLINI, M. G, PORTER, D. D, HEMMING, V. G, ZIMMERMAN, M. N, SCHWAB, N. M, PRINCE, G. A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basingstoke Nature Publishing Group 01-07-1999
• Subjects: Anesthesia. Intensive care medicine. Transfusions. Cell therapy and gene therapy; Animals; Antibodies, Viral - therapeutic use; Biological and medical sciences; Bone marrow, stem cells transplantation. Graft versus host reaction; Cyclophosphamide - pharmacology; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Immunologic; Immunoglobulins, Intravenous - adverse effects; Immunoglobulins, Intravenous - therapeutic use; Immunosuppressive Agents - adverse effects; Immunosuppressive Agents - therapeutic use; Lung - virology; Medical sciences; Nose - virology; Rats; Rats, Inbred Strains; Respiratory syncytial virus; Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections - prevention & control; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses - growth & development; Respiratory Syncytial Viruses - immunology; Sigmodontinae; Transfusions. Complications. Transfusion reactions. Cell and gene therapy; Virus Replication; Animal model; Pneumonia; Rat; Spumavirinae; Prevention; Immunotherapy; Bone marrow; Complication; Graft; Immunopathology; Lung disease; Immunoglobulins; Respiratory disease; Treatment efficiency; Rodentia; Retroviridae; Immune deficiency; Infection; Virus; Immunoprophylaxis; Vertebrata; Immunosuppression; Mammalia; Human syncytial virus; Animal; Viral disease
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.bmt.1701813
• EISSN: 1476-5365
• ISSN: 0268-3369

Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has emerged as a leading cause of pneumonia, with high mortality, in bone marrow transplant (BMT) recipients, as well as in other profoundly immunocompromised patients, such as myelosuppressed adults with leukemia. We tested the efficacy of immunoglobulin with high anti-RSV neutralizing antibody levels (RSVIG) for prophylaxis and therapy of RSV infection in cotton rats undergoing prolonged immunosuppression with cyclophosphamide. These animals experience persistent infection, a model which is similar to the disease seen in post-BMT humans. Both prophylaxis and therapy reduced pulmonary viral replication over 500-fold to nearly undetectable levels. In animals receiving continual immunosuppression, the use of multiple therapeutic doses of RSVIG was able to prevent rebound viral replication, though virus was not completely eliminated.