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Specific Non-Immunoglobulin G Antibodies and Cell-mediated Response to Herpes Simplex Virus Antigens in Women with Cervical Carcinoma¹

Institut Pasteur du Brabant, 1040, Brussels [L. T., S. S., E. H.]; Institut Bordet, Rue Héger-Border, 1000, Brussels [I. G.]; and Université Libre de Bruxelles, Hopital St Pierre, rue Haute, 1000, Brussels [M. B.], Belgium

Non-immunoglobulin G-neutralizing antibodies to herpes simplex virus (HSV) type 2 were assayed in sera adsorbed with Staphylococcus aureus Cowan I. They were present in 8% of women with normal cervical smear and in 20, 41, and 74% of women with atypia, dysplasia, and cervical carcinoma, respectively. Lymphocytes of the patients were tested for in vitro transformation by killed HSV type 1 and HSV type 2 (HSV-2), as well as by mitomycin C-treated hamster cells transformed by HSV or other viruses or not transformed. Specific stimulation by the HSV-transformed cells occurred in 2, 22, and 40% of women with normal cervical smear, dysplasia, and carcinoma of the cervix, respectively. This frequency rose to 82% during treatment with irradiation and decreased to 0% after surgery. When HSV-2 virions were used as antigens to stimulate the lymphocytes, similar differences were found between the various groups, but they were less clear-cut, since 16% of the control women had lymphocytes responding to HSV. Non-immunoglobulin G antibodies to HSV-2 were not present in blood at the same time as cell response to HSV-2-transformed cells. There was also a negative correlation between neutralizing activities of the sera and the indices of lymphocyte stimulation, indicating a regulation between humoral and cell-mediated responses.

¹ Supported by grants from the Fonds de Cancérologie de la Caisse d'Epargne, Fonds de la Recherche Médicale Scientifique, and Fondation Hoguet. Preliminary data of this study were presented at the 3rd International Symposium on Detection and Prevention of Cancer, New York, 1976.

Received 10/12/76. Accepted 1/25/77.