Antiidiotypic antibody to reovirus binds to neurons and protects from viral infection.

A syngeneic monoclonal antiidiotype directed against the idiotype of an antireovirus type 3 hemagglutinin demonstrates several of the biological actions of the original viral hemagglutinin and binds to rat and murine cortical neurons grown in dissociated cell culture. Receptor-bearing neurons appear within 24 hours of plating in cultures from mouse or rat cortex taken on embryonic day 15; these neurons are demonstrable for the duration of the culture life span (4 to 8 weeks). When cortical cultures are incubated with antiidiotype before or during exposure to reovirus, the antiidiotype protects neurons from type 3 infection without inhibiting infection of nonneuronal cells with either type 3 or type 1. Thus an antibody directed against a viral receptor can prevent infection of receptor-bearing cells without directly neutralizing the virus.