Abstract
Cells infected with HSV-1 or HSV-2 develop viral antigens which can be detected by immunofluorescence. We developed a flow cytometric indirect immunofluorescence assay to detect and quantitate antibodies to HSV-1 and HSV-2 in human sera. Results obtained by flow cytometry for detecting antibodies against HSV-1, when compared with results obtained by ELISA, showed an index of overall agreement of 100%. The correlation between the antibody titers obtained with each method was found to be highly significant. An index of overall agreement equal to 94.1% was observed between results obtained by flow cytometry and by immunofluorescence as concerns the discrimination of HSV-2 positive from negative samples. However, the correlation between antibody titers was found to be not statistically significant. The flow cytometric assay proved to be type-specific.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Caruso A., Terlenghi L., Scalzini A., Verardi R.., Foresti I., Pollara P., Bonfanti C., Ravizzola G., Manca N. and Turano A. (1988): Evaluation of the expression of IFN-y in lymphocytes using a monoclonal antibody and flow cytometry - J. Immunol. Methods 113: 37–43.
Cassai E.N., Sarmiento M. and Spear P. (1975): Comparison of the vision proteins specified by herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 - J. Virol. 6: 1327–1331.
Coleman R.M., Pereira L., Bailey P.D., Dondero D., Wickliffe C. and Nahmias A.J. (1983): Determination of herpes simplex virus type-specific antibodies by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay - J. Clin. Microbiol. 18: 287–291.
Dowdle W., Nahmias A.J., Harwell R. and Pauls F. (1967): Association of antigenic type of herpesvirus hominis to site of viral recovery - J. Immunol. 99: 974–980.
Drach J., Grattinger C., Glass H., Schwarting R., Stein H. and Huber H. (1989): Simultaneous flow cytometric analysis of surface markers and nuclear Ki-67 antigen in leukemia and lymphoma -Cytometry 10: 743–749.
Ejercito P.M., Kieff E.D. and Roizman B. (1968): Characterization of herpes simplex strains differing in their effects on social behavior of infected cells - J. Gen. Virol. 2: 357–364.
Figueroa M.E. and Rawls W.E. (1969): Biological markers for differentiation of herpesvirus strains of oral and genital origin - J. Gen. Virol. 3: 259–267.
Forghani B., Schmidt N.J. and Lennette E.H. (1975): Solid phase radioimmunoassay for typing herpes simplex viral antibodies in human sera - J. Clin. Microbiol. 2: 410–418.
Fuccillo D.A., Moder F.L., Catalano L.W. Jr., Vincent M.M. and Sever J.L. (1970): Herpesvirus hominis types I and II: a specific microindirect hemagglutination test - Proc. Soc. Exp. Bio. Med. 133: 735–739.
Hampar B. and Martos L.M. (1973): Immunological relationships p. 221–259. In: A.S. Kaplan (ed.), The herpesviruses - Academic press, Inc., New York.
Hampar B., Zweig M., Showalter S.D., Bladen S.V. and Riggs C.W. (1985): Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay for determination of antibodies against herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 in human sera - J. Clin. Microbiol. 21: 496–500.
Heilman C.J. Jr., Zweig M., Stephenson J.R. and Hampar B. (1979): Isolation of a nucleacapsid polypeptide of herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 possessing immunologically type - specific and cross-reactive determinants - J. Virol. 29: 34–42.
Heine J.W., Honess R.W., Cassai E. and Roizman B. (1974): Proteins specified by herpes simplex virus. XII. The virion polypeptides of type 1 strains - J. Virol. 14: 640–651.
Kieff E.D., Hoyer B., Bachenheimer S.L. and Roizman B. (1972): Genetic relatedness of type 1 and type 2 herpes simplex viruses - J. Virol. 9: 738–745.
Lowry S.P., Melnick J.L. and Rawls W.E. (1971): Investigation of plaque formation in chick embryo cells as a biological marker for distinguishing herpesvirus type 2 from type 1 - J. Gen. Virol. 10: 1–9.
Ludwig H.O., Biswal N. and Benyesh-Melnick M. (1972): Studies on the relatedness of herpesviruses through DNA-DNA hybridization - Virology 49: 95–101.
Pauls F.P. and Dowdle W.R. (1967): A serologic study of herpesvirus hominis strains by microneutralization tests - J. Immunol. 98: 941–947.
Plummer G. (1964): Serological comparison of the herpesviruses - Br. J. Exp. Pathol. 45: 135–141.
Plummer G., Waner J.L. and Bowling C.P. (1968): Comparative studies of type 1 and type 2 herpes simplex viruses - Br. J. Exp. Pathol. 49: 202–208.
Popovic M., Sarngadharan M.G., Read E. and Gallo R.C. (1984): Detection, isolation, and continuous production of cytopathic retroviruses (HTLV-III) from patients with AIDS and pre-AIDS - Science 224: 497–500.
Rawls W.E., Tomkins W.A., Figueroa M. and Melnick J.L. (1968): Herpesvirus type 2: association with carcinoma of the cervix - Science 161: 1255–1256.
Smith J.W., Lowry S.P., Melnick J.L. and Rawls W.E. (1972): Antibodies to surface antigens of herpesvirus type 1- and type 2-infected cells among women with cervical cancer and control women - Infect. Immun. 5: 305–310.
Smith J.W., Adams E., Melnick J.L. and Rawls W.E. (1972): Use of Cr release test to demonstrate pattern of antibody response in humans to herpesvirus types 1 and 2 - J. Immunol. 109: 554–564.
Sundstroem C. and Nilsson K. (1976): Establishment and characterization of a human histiocytic cell line (U937) - Int. J. Cancer 17: 565–577.
Vestergaard B.F. (1979): Quantitative immunoelectrophoretic analysis of human antibodies against herpes simplex virus antigens - Infect. Immun. 23: 553–558.
Zezulak K.M. and Spear P.G. (1983): Characterization of a herpes simplex virus type 2 75,000-molecular-weight glycoprotein antigenically related to herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoprotein C - J. Virol. 47: 553–562.
Zweig M., Heilman C.J. Jr., Bladen S.V., Showalter S.D. and Hampar B. (1983): Detection in antisera of antibodies that cross-react with herpes simplex type 1 glycoprotein gC - Infect. Immun. 41: 482–487.
Zweig M., Showalter S.D., Bladen S.V., Heilman C.J. Jr. and Hampar B. (1983): Herpes simplex virus type 2 glycoprotein gF and type 1 glycoprotein gC have related antigenic determinants - J. Virol. 47: 185–192.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Caruso, A., Tinti, M., Peroni, L. et al. Flow cytometric indirect immunofluorescence assay with high sensitivity and specificity for the detection of antibodies to HSV-1 and HSV-2. Eur J Epidemiol 9, 547–552 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00209534
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00209534