Corinne Liesnard

TL;DR: It is shown that a mutant allele of CCR-5 is present at a high frequency in caucasian populations, but is absent in black populations from Western and Central Africa and Japanese populations, and a 32-base-pair deletion within the coding region results in a frame shift, and generates a non-functional receptor that does not support membrane fusion or infection by macrophage- and dual-tropic HIV-1 strains.

TL;DR: The finding of a mature and functional CD8(+) T cell response to HCMV suggests that the machinery required to prime such responses is in place during fetal life and could be used to immunize newborns against viral pathogens.

TL;DR: A reliable prenatal diagnosis of congenital CMV infection based on PCR on amniocentesis samples can be made after 21 weeks' pregnancy, after a 7-week interval between diagnosis of maternal infection and antenatal procedure.

TL;DR: It is shown that upon CMV infection in utero, fetal γδ T cells expand and become differentiated, suggesting that this T cell subset could participate in antiviral defense in early life.

TL;DR: The authors plead for well-structured, separate programmes of care linked to research objectives, such as the lack of standardized techniques for semen preparation or virus detection or the relative merits of intrauterine insemination or ICSI to prevent HIV contamination during assisted reproductive techniques.