Antibody responses to virion polypeptides in gnotobiotic dogs infected with canine distemper virus.

A radioimmunoprecipitation-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis technique was applied to sera from canine distemper virus-infected dogs. Sera from fatally infected dogs precipitated only the nucleoprotein, the matrix protein, and trace amounts of fusion glycoprotein. Sera from normal convalescent dogs precipitated all five major polypeptides. In contrast, sera from persistently infected dogs were characterized by a modest overall response compared with sera from convalescent dogs and by no or little response to the matrix and phosphorylated proteins until 5 to 7 weeks after infection.