Discrimination of antibody to herpes B virus from 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; Kitasato-Otsuka, Biomedical Assay Laboratories Co., Ltd. Kanagawa 228-8555, Japan; First Department (Neurology) of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, Kurume University, Fukuoka 830-0011, Japan; Department of Veterinary Science, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan; Department of Biomedical Science, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8657, Japan

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: yochiai{at}nvlu.ac.jp.

	Abstract

Antigenic cross-reactive characteristics of herpes B virus with herpes simplex virus (HSV) types 1 and 2 is responsible for false-positive diagnosis from serological assays in humans and macaques. In the present study, we developed a fluorometric indirect ELISA with the recombinant herpes B virus glycoprotein D (gD) and the HSV-1 and HSV-2 gG (gG-1 and gG-2, respectively) to discriminate between the three primate herpesvirus infections. The secreted form of the gD, gDdTM, was used for detection of antibody to the herpes B virus gD. Sera positive for herpes B virus, HSV-1 and HSV-2 showed specific reaction to the gD, gG-1 and gG-2, respectively. Sera collected from humans and rhesus macaques were investigated for the presence of antibody to the recombinant proteins of the three herpesviruses. The results suggested that the approach was able to discriminate between herpes B virus and HSV infections. The ELISA was also found to detect multiple infections of the 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 greater cross-reactivity of herpes B virus with HSV-1 than HSV-2. It is suggested that the ELISA with the recombinant antigens is useful not only for serodiagnosis of the primate herpesvirus infections but also for elucidation of the seroprevalence in humans and primates.