Keywords :
Animals; Antibodies, Monoclonal/immunology; Antibodies, Viral/immunology; Antibody Specificity; Cell Line; Cricetinae; Epitopes/immunology; Herpesviridae Infections/immunology/virology; Mice; Neutralization Tests; Rhadinovirus/immunology/metabolism/pathogenicity; Tumor Virus Infections/immunology/virology; Viral Envelope Proteins/immunology; Virion/immunology
Abstract :
[en] Herpesviruses characteristically persist in immune hosts as latent genomes, but to transmit infection they must reactivate and replicate lytically. The interaction between newly formed virions and pre-existing antibody is therefore likely to be a crucial determinant of viral fitness. Murine gammaherpesvirus-68 (MHV-68) behaves as a natural pathogen of conventional, inbred mice and consequently allows such interactions to be analysed experimentally in a relatively realistic setting. Here, monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) were derived from MHV-68-infected mice and all those recognizing infected-cell surfaces were tested for their capacity to neutralize MHV-68 virions. All of the neutralizing mAbs identified were specific for the viral glycoprotein H (gH)-gL heterodimer and required both gH and gL to reproduce their cognate epitopes. Based on antibody interference, there appeared to be two major neutralization epitopes on gH-gL. Analysis of a representative mAb indicated that it blocked infection at a post-binding step--either virion endocytosis or membrane fusion.
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