Background: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection results in life-long carriage of latent virus in B lymphocytes in the majority of the adult population, including blood donors. The removal of EBV from red blood cell (RBC) components by leukoreduction was assessed.
Study design and methods: Sixteen randomly selected fresh AS-5 units were leukoreduced by filtration. B lymphocytes from preleukoreduction specimens and mononuclear cells (MNCs) from postleukoreduction specimens were assayed for EBV DNA with sensitive real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR).
Results: EBV genomes were detected in CD19+ B cells in 14 of 16 preleukoreduced RBC units. EBV genomic copy number in the units ranged from 0.18 to 96.84 per 10(5) B lymphocytes representing approximately 135 to 72,630 total EBV genomes per bag. Leukoreduction rendered all but one unit EBV-negative by PCR. The lone PCR-positive unit after leukoreduction amplified 1.2 EBV genome copies from MNCs recovered from the entire unit of leukoreduced RBCs; this unit had the highest EBV viral load before leukoreduction (72,630 EBV genomes).
Conclusions: These results indicate that a 4-log reduction of EBV genomic copy number can be achieved with leukoreduction of RBC units and renders most RBC units EBV-negative by sensitive PCR.