Janahi EMA, et al. - Researchers aimed to clarify the influence of Human Cytomegalovirus (CMV) on T-cells and cytokines in systemic autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and systemic sclerosis (SSc). CMV antigen stimulation in-vitro was observed to result in marked increase in CD4:CD8 T-cell ratio in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from SLE and SSc patients; response dominated by CD4+ than CD8+ memory T-cells. In both patient PBMCs, CMV antigen caused elevation in IL-4 and IFN-γ production, whereas IL-2 was also raised in SLE PBMCs. The development of large pool of memory T-cells and overproduction of IFN-γ may lead to a flare-up of autoimmunity in these patients. Findings there provide an insight into the immunopathological potential of CMV-reactive immune cells to develop new potential strategies for targeted therapeutic intervention.