Abstract
Summary
Herpesvirus hominis infected cells are susceptible in the presence of complement to an immune cytotoxic effect of human anti-herpes sera (as judged by neutralization). The immune cytotoxicity was demonstrated by the loss of ability of herpesvirus-infected cells to attach to plastic cell culture plates after reaction in suspension with immune sera and complement. The ability of uninfected cells similarly treated to attach to the plates was not affected. Human serum without neutralizing antibody to herpesvirus showed no cytotoxic effect against herpesvirus-infected cells. The herpesvirus neutralizing titers were generally higher than the cytotoxic titers. Cytotoxic effect of human herpes immune sera can be abrogated readily by absorbing sera with Herpesvirus hominis infected cells but not with cytomegalovirus or vaccinia virus infected cells.
Addendum: Since submission of this manuscript, an article by Smith et al. (21) has been published describing a 51Cr cytotoxic assay. The cytolytic activity of Herpes type I and type II human sera against type I and type II infected cells is shown. Sera from patients with varying clinical manifestations of Herpes type I and type II infection were tested and absorption studies were performed.
The advice of Dr. E. Russell Alexander and the skillful technical assistance of Miss Chin-mein Tsai of NAMRU-2, Taipei, is gratefully acknowledged.
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