Specific IgG and IgA antibodies to herpes simplex virus (HSV)-induced surface antigen in patients with HSV infections and in healthy adults

Developments in Vaccination for Herpes Simplex Virus

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) is an alpha herpes virus, with two subtypes: HSV-1 and HSV-2. HSV is one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections. It is the cause of severe neonatal infections and a leading cause of infectious blindness in the Western world. As of 2016, 13.2% of the global population ages 15-49 were existing with HSV-2 infection and 66.6% with HSV-1. This high prevalence of disease and the fact that resistance to current therapies is on the rise makes it imperative to develop and discover new methods of HSV prevention and management. Among the arsenal of therapies/treatments for this virus has been the development of a prophylactic or therapeutic vaccine to prevent the complications of HSV reactivation. Our current understanding of the immune responses involved in latency and reactivation provides a unique challenge to the development of vaccines. There are no approved vaccines currently available for either prophylaxis or therapy. However, there are various promising candidates in the pre-clinical and clinical phases of study. Vaccines are being developed with two broad focuses: preventative and therapeutic, some with a dual use as both immunotherapeutic and prophylactic. Within this article, we will review the current guidelines for the treatment of herpes simplex infections, our understanding of the immunological pathways involved, and novel vaccine candidates in development.

Revisión sistemática sobre la prevalencia de la serología infecciosa en la parálisis facial periférica

Introducción y objetivos. La parálisis facial periférica es una afección del Nervio Facial que suele cursar con dolor retroauricular, pródromos vitales y parálisis facial. Ante la falta de bibliografía sobre la etiología de dicha parálisis se propuso realizar una revisión sistemática orientada a conocer la prevalencia serológica de la parálisis facial periférica en los diferentes estudios publicados incluyendo el realizado en esta facultad el curso anterior. Materiales y métodos. Revisión sistemática y metanálisis de los estudios publicados sobre la confirmación de una parálisis facial periférica por serología positiva. Resultados. Un total de 628 pacientes fueron analizados, de los cuáles 76 tenían serología positiva (12,10%). El metanálisis muestra heterogeneidad entre los resultados y sesgo de publicación. Conclusiones. No se evidencia que haya una relación significativa entre una parálisis facial periférica y una serología positiva reciente por lo que no se obtendría beneficio con un tratamiento antiviral.

An assay method for herpes simplex virus type 1 seroprevalence survey--detection of antibody in saliva by avidin-biotin complex enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ABC-ELISA)

To determine whether the avidin-biotin complex enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ABC-E) is a potentially useful method for detection of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) antibody in saliva, paired serum and saliva samples from 129 healthy individuals aged 18 to 25 years were collected simultaneously and subjected to a neutralization test (NT) for neutralizing antibody and also to an indirect ELISA (IE) and ABC-E for HSV-1 specific IgG detection. Compared with the results of NT, the sensitivities of the IE and ABC-E for serum were both 100% (45/45), and for saliva 82.2% (37/45) and 93.3% (42/45), respectively. The specificity of all these methods was 100% (84/84). With the same ABC-E method, a significant correlation (r = 0.66, P < 0.001) between the OD-difference (d-OD) values of positive serum and saliva samples was observed. Furthermore, the consistency of ABC-E for salivary antibody detection was confirmed with the paired serum and saliva samples which were collected from four individuals followed up for eight months. It was clear that the ABC-E method for saliva can be used in place of the NT and ABC-E method for serum for seroprevalence studying of HSV-1 infection.

HSV-IgA serum antibodies in cervical intraepithelial neoplasia and invasive cancer patients, and in their spouses: a case control study

Class-specific IgG and IgA antibodies to HSV were assayed in women with CIN (76), invasive cancer (52) (histological diagnosis) and age-matched controls (119), employing HSV-2-infected HEp-2 cells as antigen during IFA assay. We observed an elevated geometric mean titre (GMT) of serum antibody (IgG five-to eight-fold and IgA four-to five-fold) for the entire spectrum of cervical lesions, as compared to controls. The odds of finding HSV-IgA antibodies were highest with CIN III (OR = 22.0), followed by invasive carcinoma, and CIN I & II (OR = 9.5 and 5.2), respectively. Furthermore, the investigations with respect to married couples (husbands and wives) who volunteered to participate in this study (33 cases and 47 control group) also indicated relatively high antibody titres and increased frequency of HSV sero positivity amongst husbands of cases as compared to their wives, as well as the control group males and females. The contribution of HSV infection in women and/or their husbands to the risk of developing abnormal cervical lesions was analysed after adjusting for the same in respective counterparts. It was observed that the risk was increased 14-fold with HSV-IgA positivity of women, and that HSV-IgA positivity of husbands (male partners) further increased the risk 16-fold. This preliminary observation shows the importance of serum HSV-IgA antibodies as a risk indicator in cervical precancer and cancer lesions in women without a history of recent genital herpes lesions. The serum HSV-IgA may also be taken as an indicator of "high risk" males.

Detection of specific IgA antibodies to varicella zoster virus in serum of patients with Ramsay Hunt syndrome

Varicella zoster virus (VZV)-specific IgG and IgA antibody titers were determined in serial serum samples of 23 patients with Ramsay Hunt syndrome by the immunoperoxidase assay. Varicella zoster virus-specific IgG antibodies were found in the first serum samples of all the patients. In 80% of 20 patients in whom a serum sample was available within 5 days after the onset of the disease. VZV-specific IgA antibodies were detected. The second serum sample was VZV-specific IgA-positive in all of the patients. While all the healthy age- and sex-matched control subjects had VZV-specific IgG antibodies, VZV-specific IgA antibodies were detected in a low titer (dilution = 2) in only three of the subjects. By using VZV-specific IgA antibody titers greater than or equal to 2 and greater than or equal to 4 by the immunoperoxidase assay as a "cutoff" for younger and older patients with Ramsay Hunt syndrome, respectively, an early diagnosis of the disease can be obtained in 89% of the younger and in 64% of the older patients by a single serum sample.

Serum IgA antibodies in HSV asymptomatic genital infections

Cervico-vaginal swabs and serum samples from 81 women without herpes-associated clinical symptoms were examined for virus isolation and for the presence of IgA antibodies to herpes simplex virus (HSV) using the indirect fluorescent antibody technique. Nineteen of the 81 women were followed up for 2 years. Blood samples and swabs from cutaneous lesions were obtained from another group of 20 women (medical staff) with herpes labialis. By analysing the specific anti-HSV IgA antibodies, a higher geometric mean titre (GMT) was found in women with positive HSV-2 isolation (GMT = 380.03), as opposed to the GMT observed in women with negative HSV-2 (GMT = 63.43) or positive HSV-1 isolation (GMT = 55.15). Results from the longitudinal study also demonstrated that positive virus isolation always correlated with a marked rise in serum IgA antibody to HSV.

ELISA for detection of IgG and IgM antibodies to HSV-1 and HSV-2 in human sera

A rapid, enzyme-linked immunoassay (ELISA) was applied to identify and measure specific IgG and IgM antibodies to herpes simplex viruses types 1 and 2 (HSV-1 and HSV-2). Detergent solubilized infected cells and mock-infected cells were used as antigens in the assay. Identification of type-specific antibodies was achieved by a competition assay in which clinical sera mixed with HSV-1 or HSV-2 antigens were assayed for reactivity to identical antigens coating wells of polystyrene microtiter plates. Reactivity and the specificity of the reactive immunoglobulin class was quantitated using biotinylated goat anti-IgG and biotinylated goat anti-IgM. Five paired sera from patients with diagnosed herpes simplex genital infections and one human anti-HSV-1 reference serum were tested with this assay and results were compared to results previously obtained using a complement fixation test and micro-SPRIA. The results indicate that the ELISA is a specific, sensitive and simple test which confirms the herpes simplex virus infection history of patients.

Detection of rotavirus-specific IgG antibodies by immunoperoxidase assay and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

An indirect immunoperoxidase assay (IPA) has been developed for determination of IgG antibodies to rotavirus. The technique employed as antigen, SA-11 infected MA 104 cells, which were air-dried on glass slides and acetone-fixed. In parallel, rota-specific IgG antibodies were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Specific IgG antibodies to rotavirus were determined in sera of healthy children and in sera of patients suffering from gastroenteritis. A good correlation (r = 0.92) and (r = 0.98) for healthy children and patients, respectively, was found between IPA and ELISA techniques. The IPA technique is rapid and simple and positive results, because of the intensive staining, are easily read by low-power light microscope. The potential application of IPA and ELISA methods in serodiagnosis of rotavirus infections is discussed.