Neutralization of Epstein-Barr Virus by Nonimmune Human Serum

Abstract

A B S T R A C T These studies were carried out to investigate the mechanism of neutralization of purified Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) simplex I (HSV-1) absorbed the EBV ELISA reactivity and EBV-neutralizing activity of nonimmune sera, whereas another member of the herpesvirus group, cytomegalovirus, was inactive in this regard. HSV-1 was quantitatively more efficient than EBV in absorbing reactivity, a finding that indicates that the antibody has a higher affinity for HSV-1 than for EBV. Further absorption studies indicated that the cross-reaction occurred in both directions as EBV also absorbed HSV-1 reactive antibodies as tested in an HSV-1 ELISA. EBV was also less efficient than HSV-1 in absorbing reactivity with HSV-1. A serum lacking detectable antibodies.to both EBV and HSV-1 failed to neutralize EBV. These studies cumulatively indicate that fresh serum from EBV nonimmune individuals neutralizes EBV by the combined action of a previously undescribed cross-reacting antibody apparently elicited by HSV-1 and Cl, C4, C2, and C3 of the classical complement pathway.

Complement enhances in vitro neutralizing potency of antibodies to human cytomegalovirus glycoprotein B (gB) and immune sera induced by gB/MF59 vaccination

“… 34 – 36 In addition, complement-enhancing neutralization without virolysis has been described, and one proposed mechanism for this is that the accumulation of complement on viral envelop would inhibit viral interaction with its cellular receptor required for viral entry. 28 , 37 Our data were consistent with this proposed mechanism, and our results further indicated that this mechanism could be affected by the antibodies’ biochemical properties, including epitope specificity. The antibodies in our study exhibited different neutralizing profiles in the presence of complement and different patterns in Western blot analysis.…”

Complement and its role in protection and pathogenesis of flavivirus infections

“…Complement activation augments antibody-mediated neutralization of several viruses, including influenza [165] , [182] , HIV [183] , [184] , [185] , [186] , respiratory syncytial [187] , [188] , varicella zoster [189] , [190] , [191] , Epstein-Barr [192] , [193] , and herpes simplex viruses [194] , [195] , [196] . Complement also improves antibody-mediated neutralization of Flaviviruses.…”

Pseudorabies virus gIII and bovine herpesvirus 1 gIII share complementary functions

“…Virus was labelled with [35S]methionine, purified through a tartrate gradient, and diluted to 105 cpm/ml in 1% bovine serum albumin in phosphate-buffered saline (BSA-PBS) before use. Calculated from the DNA contents of the virus (17), the specific activities of the labelled viruses were 2.08 x 10-5 cpm per particle for wt virus, 4.49 x 10-5 cpm per particle for the gIll mutant, and 1.66 x 10-5 cpm per particle for vBPgIII. The viral infectivity levels were 4.29 x 10-4 PFU per particle for the wt virus, 2.69 x 10-' PFU per particle for the glll mutant, and 9.73 x i0-5 PFU per particle for vBPgIII.…”