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Discrimination of Antibody to Herpes B Virus from Antibody to Herpes Simplex Virus Types 1 and 2 in Human and Macaque Sera

Department of Veterinary Public Health, Nippon Veterinary and Life Sciences University, Tokyo 180-8602, Japan,¹ Kitasato-Otsuka, Biomedical Assay Laboratories Co., Ltd. Kanagawa 228-8555, Japan,² First Department (Neurology) of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Kurume University, Fukuoka 830-0011, Japan,³ Department of Veterinary Science, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan,⁴ Department of Biomedical Science, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan⁵

Received 12 February 2007/ Returned for modification 5 July 2007/ Accepted 22 October 2007

The antigenic cross-reactive characteristics of herpes B virus and herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 1 (HSV-1) and HSV-2 are responsible for false-positive diagnoses by serological assays in humans and macaques. In the present study, we developed a fluorometric indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) with recombinant herpes B virus glycoprotein D (gD) and HSV-1 and HSV-2 gG (gG-1 and gG-2, respectively) to discriminate between the three primate herpesvirus infections. The secreted form of gD, gDdTM, was used to detect antibody to herpes B virus gD. Sera positive for herpes B virus, HSV-1, and HSV-2 showed specific reactions to gD, gG-1, and gG-2, respectively. Sera collected from humans and rhesus macaques were investigated for the presence of antibodies to the recombinant proteins of the three herpesviruses. The results suggested that the approach is able to discriminate between herpes B virus and HSV infections. The ELISA was also found to be able to detect infections with multiple primate herpesviruses and may have the potential to identify a subsequent infection in individuals that have already been infected with another herpesvirus. In addition, we found evidence of a greater cross-reactivity of herpes B virus with HSV-1 than with HSV-2. It is suggested that the ELISA with the recombinant antigens is useful not only for the serodiagnosis of primate herpesvirus infections but also for elucidation of the seroprevalence of herpesviruses in humans and primates.

Published ahead of print on 7 November 2007.