Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Virology, February 1999, p. 878-886, Vol. 73, No. 2
Institut für Klinische und Molekulare
Virologie, Universität Erlangen-Nurnberg, 91054 Erlangen,
Germany
Received 22 July 1998/Accepted 29 October 1998
Induction of an effective antibody response against human
cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an important defense mechanism since it is
potentially capable of neutralizing infectious viruses. We have
analyzed the extent of HCMV strain-specific neutralization capacity in
human sera. Nine recent HCMV isolates and their corresponding sera were
investigated in cross-neutralization assays. We observed differences,
independent of the overall neutralization capacity, in the 50%
neutralization titers of the sera against individual strains,
differences that ranged from 8-fold to more than 60-fold. For one
isolate, complete resistance to neutralization by two human sera was
observed. The neutralization capacity of human sera was not influenced
by the presence of various concentrations (up to 100-fold excess) of
noninfectious envelope glycoproteins, an inherent contamination of
virus preparations from recent HCMV isolates. This indicated that the
decisive parameter for neutralization is the titer of the neutralizing
antibodies and that neutralization is largely independent of the
concentration of virus. Analysis with transplant patients revealed that
during primary infection strain-specific and strain-common antibodies
are produced asynchronously. Thus, our data demonstrate that the
induction of strain-specific neutralizing antibodies is a common event
during infection with HCMV and that it might have important
implications for the course of the infection and the development of
anti-HCMV vaccines.
0022-538X/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Strain-Specific Neutralization of Human
Cytomegalovirus Isolates by Human Sera
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institut
für Klinische und Molekulare Virologie, Universität
Erlangen-Nürnberg, Schlossgarten 4, 91054 Erlangen, Germany.
Phone: 9131-852107. Fax: 9131-852101. E-mail:
mlmach{at}viro.med.uni-erlangen.de.
This article has been cited by other articles:
| J. Bacteriol. | Mol. Cell. Biol. | Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev. |
|---|
| Clin. Vaccine Immunol. | ALL ASM JOURNALS |
|---|