Premium
Antibody to human cell lines with and without ultrastructural evidence for epstein‐barr virus (ebv) infection in sera from patients with diverse viral illnesses
Author(s) -
Beltran German,
Northington James W.,
Leiderman Eduardo,
Mogabgab William J.,
Stuckey Walter J.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
international journal of cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.475
H-Index - 234
eISSN - 1097-0215
pISSN - 0020-7136
DOI - 10.1002/ijc.2910070302
Subject(s) - mononucleosis , antibody , virology , virus , antigen , mycoplasma pneumoniae , biology , buffy coat , epstein–barr virus , immunology , titer , pneumonia , medicine
One hundred and sixteen pairs of acute and convalescent sera from patients with diverse viral illnesses were studied for Epstein‐Barr virus (EB V) antibody by an indirect immunofluorescent technique using as antigen cells of the EB‐3 cell line known to harbor EBV particles. Sera of 23 patients with atypical pneumonia associated with Mycoplasma pneumoniae were investigated similarly. We found low titers of antibody in 90% of the cases but failed to detect any significant increase of antibody in the convalescent sera. These results do not support the suggestion that the development of EBV antibody observed in infectious mononucleosis is due to non‐specific effects such as proliferation of lymphoid cells. Subsequently, we reacted 31 sera with cells of four continuous cultures established from the buffy coat of patients with various types of leukemia (TU‐I through TU‐4). After repeated electron microscope examination, cells of these lines are known to be free of EBV particles, but harbor a tubular ultrastructure previously described by others in a variety of cell cultures. Although all 31 sera had reacted positively with EB‐3 cells, they failed to react with the TU cells. We interpreted this observation as indicating a lack of antigenic relationship between the tubular structures and EBV.