Adenine arabinoside (ARA-A) blocked HSV-2 infected human skin fibroblasts as targets for the detection of serum mediated and cellular cytotoxicity in patients with cervical carcinoma.

Human skin fibroblasts remained viable after infection with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) if grown after infection in the presence of adenine arabinoside (ARA-A); The cells were specifically killed by normal human lymphoid cells in the presence of HSV-2 convalescent or rabbit immune serum, and this cytotoxicity could be blocked by a crude HSV-2 antigen preparation. Antibodies capable of mediating such cytotoxicity against HSV-2 induced cell surface antigens could be detected in four out of eleven patients with carcinoma of the uterine cervix. Ten patients were tested for the presence of direct cellular cytotoxicity against HSV-2 infected, ARA-A blocked target cells and none was found.