The specificity of adenovirus-human serum inhibitor interaction

Summary

In this paper evidence is presented to show that the non-specific inhibitor of adenovirus haemagglutination combines with hexons (soluble and viral) as well as with the haemagglutinating entities to produce flocculation. Therefore the haemagglutination inhibition test is best performed using either penton or fibre antigen as indicator and because of its stability the fibre is preferred. Of the hexons, the inhibitor appears to combine specifically with the hexons proper. It is concluded that the adjacent hexons and/or peripentons are responsible for attachment of virus to the host cell. The nature of these interactions is discussed.

These results underline the importance of the use of serum inhibitors in the elucidation of the nature of the viral surface and the relationship of that surface to red blood cell and host cell systems. It is hoped that chemical identification of the active groupings involved will shed light on the fundamentals of the infective process.