Cell-mediated immune responses in recurrent herpesvirus infections. I. Lymphocyte proliferation assay.

Studies in immunosuppressed and immunodeficient patients indicate that the cell-mediated immune response appears to be responsible for controlling reactivated herpesvirus infections. In this study, the various parameters of a herpesvirus (types 1 and 2) antigen specific lymphocyte proliferation assay were optimized and used to evaluate individuals with clinical, recurrent HSV-1 and HSV-2 infections. Normal individuals with neutralizing antibody to HSV-1 or HSV-2 responded to virus antigen in culture as well as individuals with recurrent disease. Normal individuals without neutralizing antibody responded with a significantly lower response. Specificity of the lymphocyte proliferation assay was observed most strikingly in normal individuals with a rare HSV-1 infection during the vesicular eruption. Specificity was also observed by determining the ratio of the response to HSV-1 as compared to the response to HSV-2. Evaluated in this manner, individuals with recurrent HSV-1 infections had significantly higher ratios than individuals with HSV-2 infections and vice versa. Data from individuals with recurrent disease was compared to that of normal individuals to determine whether the former demonstrated a specific alteration in this response. Individuals with recurrent disease were found to have higher neutralizing antibody titers than normals. The neutralizing antibody titers in normal individuals correlated well with the lymphocyte proliferation assay results, whereas a similar evaluation in individuals with recurrent disease gave a negative correlation. The ratio of HSV-1 response/HSV-2 response also demonstrated a suppressed response in recurrent infections to the homologous virus during active disease, which disappeared when the individual was convalescent. These studies indicate that individuals with recurrent HSV infections have virus antigen specific alterations of their cell-mediated immune response, which can be associated with their disease.