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Complement-Requiring Neutralizing Antibodies in Hyperimmune Sera to Human Cytomegaloviruses¹

Department of Virology and Epidemiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77025

Abstract

High-titered antisera to two strains of human (C87 and AD169) and two strains of monkey (GR2598 and GR2757) cytomegaloviruses (CMV) were prepared in primates hand-reared in captivity and free of pre-existing antibodies. Unlike monkey CMV, which elicited the production of complement-independent neutralizing (CIN) antibodies, hyperimmune sera to the two human strains were found to contain chiefly complement-requiring neutralizing (CRN) antibodies. The CRN antibodies elicited by human CMV were specific for the immunizing virus and were not directed to host-cell components. Treatment of whole serum with 2-mercaptoethanol indicated that 7S antibodies comprised the major population of CRN antibody activity in both early and late anti-human CMV sera. Preparations of highly purified early and late IgG (6.4S) and IgM (18.6S) anti-human CMV immunoglobulins all required complement for neutralization. The complement dependency of late IgG appears to be a phenomenon unique for antisera against human CMV. Cross-neutralization tests indicated a two-way cross between the two human viruses and a two-way cross between the two monkey viruses with negligible interspecies reactivity.

Footnotes

¹ This study was supported by Research Contract PH 43-68-1246 from the Research Resources Branch and Training Grant 5 T1 AI74 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Contract PH 43-68-678 from the Special Virus Cancer Program of the National Cancer Institute, and Grant HE 05435 from the Heart and Lung Institute, National Institutes of Health. Y. M. was on leave from the School of Medicine, Kagoshima University, Japan.

² Present address: Departments of Dermatology and Microbiology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, Florida.

³ All correspondence and requests for reprints should be addressed to Dr. Matilda Benyesh-Melnick, Department of Virology and Epidemiology, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77025.