Links of Interest

The Clinical Virology Laboratory is committed to conducting extensive research on topics that relate to improving our understanding of clinical virology and the care of patients with viral illnesses. To this end, we have a long record of clinical research in collaboration with industry and UPMC clinicians and surgeons, and colleagues at other institutions. Current research interests include:

• Diagnosis of cytomegalovirus infections in organ transplant recipients
• Diagnosis of respiratory virus infections in organ transplant recipients and pediatric patients
• Cytomegalovirus drug resistance in organ transplant recipients
• Sexually transmitted chlamydial infections

Dr. Rinaldo also has an extensive, complementary basic research program on the natural history and immunopathogenesis of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and human herpesvirus 8 (Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpesvirus) infections in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology of the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health. A description of this research can be found at http://www.pitt.edu/~gsphhome/idm/people/faculty/rinaldo.html and http://path.upmc.edu/people/faculty/rinaldo.html

Publications from the UPMC Clinical Virology Laboratory since 1983

Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. and DeBiasio, R.L. Alteration of immunoregulatory mechanisms during cytomegalovirus mononucleosis: Effect of in vitro culture on lymphocyte blastogenesis to viral antigens. Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. 28:46-55, 1983.

Rinaldo, C.R., Jr., Ho, M., Hamoudi, W.H., Gui, X., and DeBiasio, R.L. Lymphocyte subsets and natural killer cell responses during cytomegalovirus mononucleosis. Infect. Immun. 40:472-477, 1983.

Gui, X., Rinaldo, C.R., Jr., and Ho, M. Natural killer cell activity in renal transplant recipients receiving cyclosporine. Infect. Immun. 41:965-970, 1983.

Rinaldo, C.R., Jr., Hamoudi, W.H., DeBiasio, R.L., Rabin, B., Hakala, T.R., and Liebert, M. Cellular immune response and cytomegalovirus infection in renal transplant recipients receiving cyclosporine. Transplant. Proc. 15:2775-2778, 1983.

Weinbaum, D.L., Kaplan, S.S., Zdziarski, U., Rinaldo, C.R., Jr., and Schroeder, K.K. Human polymorphonuclear leukocyte interaction with cyclosporin A. Infect. Immun. 43:791-794, 1984.

Rinaldo, C.R., Jr., DeBiasio, R.L., Hamoudi, W.H., Rabin, B., Liebert, M., and Hakala, T.R. Effect of herpesvirus infections on T lymphocyte subpopulations and blastogenic responses in renal transplant recipients receiving cyclosporine. Clin. Immunol. Immunopathol. 38:357-366, 1986.

Berman, M.A., Nalesnik, M.A., Kapadia, S.B., Rinaldo, C.R., and Jensen, F. Primary lymphadenopathic Kaposi's sarcoma in an immunocompetent 23-year-old man. Amer. J. Clin. Path. 86:366-369, 1986.

Rinaldo, C.R., Jr., Kingsley, L.A., Lyter, D.W., Bodner, A.J., Weiss, S.H., and Saxinger, W.C. Excretion of cytomegalovirus in semen associated with HTLV-III seropositivity in asymptomatic homosexual men. J. Med. Virol. 20:17-22, 1986.

Dummer, J.S., Erb, S., Breinig, M.K., Ho, M., Rinaldo, C.R., Jr., Gupta, P., Ragni, M.V., Tzakis, A., Makowka, L., Van Thiel, D., and Starzl, T.E. Infection with human immunodeficiency virus in the Pittsburgh transplant population: A study of 583 donors and 1,043 recipients, 1981-86. Transplantation 47:134-139, 1989.

Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. Cytomegalovirus as a cofactor in HIV infection and AIDS. In R.R. Watson (ed.). Cofactors in human immunodeficiency virus infection and progression to AIDS. CRC Press, Boca Raton, Florida, pp. 151-185, 1989.

Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. Immune suppression by herpesviruses. Ann. Rev. Med. 41:331-338, 1990.

Rinaldo, C.R., Jr., Kingsley, L.A., Ho, M., Armstrong, J.A., and Zhou, S.Y.J. Enhanced shedding of cytomegalovirus in semen of human immunodeficiency virus-seropositive homosexual men. J. Clin. Microbiol. 30:1148-1155, 1992.

Zeevi, A., Uknis, M.E., Spichty, K.J., Tector, M., Keenan, R.J., Rinaldo, C., Yousem, S., Duncan, S., Paradis, I., Dauber, J., Griffith, B., and Duquesnoy, R.J. Proliferation of cytomegalovirus-primed lymphocytes in broncheoalveolar lavages from lung transplant patients. Transplantation 54:635-638, 1992.

Hassanein, T.I., Shetty, B., Gavaler, J.S., Sakr, M.F., Sheahan, D.G., Rinaldo, C., Jr., and Van Thiel, D.H. The timing, location and histologic characterization of upper gastrointestinal CMV infection occurring in a liver transplant population. Eur. J. Gastroenterol. Hepatology 5:1021-1027, 1993.

St. George, K., Anderegg, K., Williams, P., Dauber, J., Grgurich, W., and Rinaldo, C. Clinical significance of CMV in bronchoalveolar lavage cells and extracellular fluids in lung allograft recipients. In S. Michelson and S.A. Plotkin (eds.). Multidisciplinary approach to understanding cytomegalovirus disease. Excerpta Medica, Amsterdam, p. 201-205, 1993.

Randhawa, P.S., Jaffe, R., Faruki, H., Rinaldo, C.R. Jr., Ho, M., Demetris, A.J., Manez, R., Kusne, S., and Ehrlich, G.D. Detection of cytomegalovirus in formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded donor, native and allograft liver tissue using a multiplex polymerase chain reaction - liquid hybridization assay. Modern Pathol. 7:125-128, 1994.

St. George, K. and Rinaldo, C.R. Jr. Effects of enhancing agents on culture of CMV from clinical specimens. J. Clin. Microbiol. 32:2024-2027, 1994.

Maņez, R., St. George, K., Linden, P., Martin, M., Kusne, S., Grossi, P., Ho, M., and Rinaldo, C. Diagnosis of cytomegalovirus infections by shell vial assay and conventional cell culture during antiviral prophylaxis. J. Clin. Microbiol. 32:2655-2659, 1994.

Martin, M., Maņez, R., Linden, P., Estores, D., Torre-Cisneros, J., Kusne, S., Ondick, L., Ptachcinski, R., Irish, W., Kisor, D., Felser, I., Rinaldo, C., Stieber, A., Fung, J., Ho, M., Simmons, R., and Starzl, T. A prospective randomized trial comparing sequential ganciclovir-high dose acyclovir to high dose acyclovir for prevention of cytomegalovirus disease in adult liver transplant recipients. Transplantation 58:779-785, 1994.

St. George, K. and Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. Comparison of monoclonal antibodies for immunostaining in the cytomegalovirus shell vial assay on 4,388 specimens. J. Med. Virol. 47:269-271, 1995.

Koehler, M., St. George, K., and Rinaldo, C., Jr. The evaluation of CMV antigenemia assays in bone marrow transplant recipients. (Letter) Brit. J. Haematol. 89:427, 1995.

Koehler, M., St. George, K., Ehrlich, G., and Rinaldo, C. Significance of CMV DNA PCR results in bone marrow transplant recipients. (Letter) Bone Marrow Transplant. 17:465-466, 1996.

Maņez, R., Kusne, S., Rinaldo, C., Aguado, J.M., St. George, K., Grossi, P., Frye, B., Fung, J.J., and Ehrlich, G. Time to detection of cytomegalovirus (CMV)-DNA in blood leukocytes is a predictor for the development of CMV disease in CMV-seronegative recipients of allografts from CMV-seropositive donors following liver transplantation. J. Infect. Dis. 173:1072-1076, 1996.

Grossi, P., Kusne, S., Rinaldo, C., St. George, K., Magnone, M., Rakela, J., Fung, J., and Starzl, T.E. Guidance of ganciclovir therapy with pp65 antigenemia in cytomegalovirus-free recipients of livers from seropositive donors. Transplantation 61:1659-1660, 1996.

Koehler, M., St. George, K., Ehrlich, G.D., Mirro, J., Neudorf, S.M., and Rinaldo, C. Prevention of CMV disease in allogeneic BMT recipients by CMV antigenemia-guided preemptive therapy. J. Ped. Hematol. Oncol. 19:43-47, 1997.

St. George, K., and Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. Comparison of commercially available antibody reagents for the CMV pp65 antigenemia assay. Clin. Diag. Virol. 7:147-152, 1997.

Kusne, S., Manez, R., Frye, B.L., St. George, K., Abu-Elmagd, K., Tabasco-Menguillon, J., Fung, J.J., Todo, S., Rinaldo, C., and Ehrlich, G.D. Use of DNA amplification for diagnosis of cytomegalovirus enteritis after intestinal transplantation. Gastroenterology 112:1121-1128, 1997.

Koehler, M., St. George, K., and Rinaldo, C. CMV antigenemia in patients receiving peripheral stem cell transplants. Bone Marrow Transplant. 20:809, 1997.

Michaels, M.G., Alcendor, D.J., St. George, K., Rinaldo, C.R., Jr., Ehrlich, G.D., Becich, M.J., and Hayward, G.S. Distinguishing baboon cytomegalovirus from human cytomegalovirus: importance for xenotransplantation. J. Infect. Dis. 176:1476-1483, 1997.

Koehler, M., St. George, K., and Rinaldo, C. CMV antigenemia in patients receiving peripheral stem cell transplants. (Letter) Bone Marrow Transplantation 20:809, 1997.

Cook, R.L., St. George, K., Lassak, M., Tran, N., Anhalt, J.P., and Rinaldo, C.R. Screening for Chlamydia trachomatis infection in college women with a polymerase chain reaction assay. Clin. Infect. Dis. 28:1002-1007, 1999.

St. George, K. and Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. Comparison of cytomegalovirus antigenemia and culture assays in patients on and off antiviral therapy. J. Med. Virol. 59:91-97, 1999.

Kusne, S., Grossi, P., Irish, W., St. George, K., Rinaldo, C., Rakela, J., and Fung, J. Cytomegalovirus pp65 antigenemia monitoring as a guide for preemptive therapy: a cost effective strategy for prevention of cytomegalovirus disease in adult liver transplant recipients. Transplantation 68:1125-1131, 1999.

St. George, K., Boyd, M.J., Lipson, S.M., Ferguson, D., Cartmell, G.F., Falk, L.H., Rinaldo, C.R., and Landry, M.L. A multi-site trial comparing cytomegalovirus (CMV) pp65 antigenemia test kits, two Biotest CMV Brite and Bartels/Argene CMV antigenemia. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38:1430-1433, 2000.

Caliendo, A.M., St. George, K., Kao, S-Y., Allega, J., Tan, B-H., LaFontaine, R., Bui,L., and Rinaldo, C.R. Comparison of quantitative cytomegalovirus (CMV) PCR in plasma and CMV antigenemia: clinical utility of the prototype AMPLICOR CMV MONITOR test in transplant recipients. J. Clin. Microbiol. 38:2122-2127, 2000.

Cook, R.L., St. George, K., Lassak, M., and Rinaldo, C.R. Reply (Letter) Clin. Infect. Dis. 30:406-407, 2000.

St. George, K., Rowe, D.T., and Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. Cytomegalovirus, varicella-zoster virus and Epstein-Barr virus. In S. Specter (ed.). Clinical Virology Manual. 3rd Ed. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC, pp. 410-449, 2000.

Michaels, M.G., Jenkins, F.J., St. George, K., Nalesnik, M.A., Starzl, T.E., and Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. Detection of infectious baboon cytomegalovirus after baboon to human liver xenotransplantation. J. Virol. 75:2825-2828, 2001.

Cook RL, St George K, Silvestre AJ, Riddler SA, Lassak M, Rinaldo CR Jr. Prevalence of chlamydia and gonorrhoea among a population of men who have sex with men. Sex Transm Infect. 78:190-3, 2002.

St. George, K., Patel, N.M., Hartwig, R.A., Scholl, D.R., Jollick, J.A., Jr., Kauffmann, L.M., Evans, M.R., and Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. Rapid and sensitive detection of respiratory virus infections for directed antiviral treatment using R-mix cultures. J. Clin. Virol. 24: 107-115, 2002

St. George, K. and Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. Cytomegalovirus. In N.R.Rose, et al. (eds.). Manual of Clinical Laboratory Immunology. 6th Ed. American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D.C., p. 627-634, 2002.

Caliendo AM, St George K, Allega J, Bullotta AC, Gilbane L, Rinaldo CR. Distinguishing cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection and disease with CMV nucleic acid assays. J Clin Microbiol. 40:1581-6, 2002.

Jenkins, F. J., Rowe, D.T., and Rinaldo, C.R., Jr. Herpesvirus infections in organ transplant recipients. Clin. Diag. Lab. Immunol., in press.