Comparison of Real-time PCR Methods and pp65 Antigenemia Assay to Detect Cytomegalovirus Reactivation in Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a common human pathogen that causes morbidity and mortality in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients (13). Early diagnosis of HCMV infection or reactivation and effective pre-emptive therapies with setting cut-off values are required for appropriate HCMV disease prevention in HSCT recipients (4-6) Although the pp65 antigenemia assay is one of the most widely used methods to monitor CMV infection or reactivation, this assay has many limitations: it requires high-level skill in the experimenter; it is very labor intensive and the