Cytomegalovirus-specific cell-mediated immunity during pregnancy in lower socioeconomic class adolescents.

The role of maternal cytomegalovirus (CMV)-specific cellular immunity in gestational CMV excretion and transmission of congenital infection was assessed by studying CMV-specific mononuclear proliferation (CMV-MP) longitudinally during pregnancy in 59 lower socioeconomic class adolescents. CMV-MP was absent in mothers seropositive for CMV on more than 40% of occasions tested, but no significant difference was noted at any time in frequency or degree of CMP-MP between the 16 mothers who shed virus and the 29 who were seropositive for CMV but did not shed virus. The presence of CMV-MP did not preclude gestational CMV excretion. The lone mother who bore a congenitally infected infant lacked CMV-MP on all three occasions when she shed virus. CMV-MP was noted in cord blood from 14 uninfected infants of seropositive mothers. Maternal CMV-specific cellular immunity is not the major determinant of gestational CMV excretion, but the extent of its role in modulating transmission of congenital infection is yet unclear.