The Journal of Immunology, Vol 146, Issue 10 3578-3582, Copyright © 1991 by American Association of Immunologists

ARTICLES

Antiviral activity and dose optimum of recombinant macrophage colony- stimulating factor on herpes simplex genitalis in guinea pigs

RJ Ho, KT Chong and TC Merigan
Department of Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine, CA 94305.

The antiviral activity of recombinant human macrophage CSF (M-CSF) against genital herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2) infection in guinea pigs was investigated. M-CSF stimulates proliferation of human and guinea pig peripheral blood monocytes, specifically the plastic adherent esterase-positive mononuclear cells. When anti-HSV-2 activity of M-CSF was evaluated in guinea pigs by 6 daily injection (s.c.) of M- CSF at various doses (5 x 10(5) to 7 x 10(7) U/kg), we found 2 x 10(6) U/kg to be the optimum dose for protective efficacy against primary HSV- 2 infection. Either at a lethal, 5 x 10(5) pfu, or sublethal 5 x 10(4) pfu of virus challenge, animals treated with the optimum regimen of M- CSF exhibited lower herpetic lesion scores (p less than 0.005), and lower mortality (p less than 0.025) than animals in placebo group. M- CSF treatment increased the HSV-infected cell killing activities of plastic-adherent mononuclear cells, indicating that in vivo administration of M-CSF may activate the antiviral effects of guinea pig macrophages that may play a role in protection against severity and mortality of herpetic disease.

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