Neutralizing Antibodies Limit Cell-Associated Spread of Human Cytomegalovirus in Epithelial Cells and Fibroblasts

Reuter N, Kropff B, Britt WJ, Mach M, Thomas M (2022)

Publication Type: Journal article

Publication year: 2022

Journal

Viruses MDPI

Book Volume: 14

Article Number: 284

Journal Issue: 2

DOI: 10.3390/v14020284

Abstract

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) can cause severe clinical disease in immunocompromised individuals, such as allograft recipients and infants infected in utero. Neutralizing activity of antibodies, measured as the ability to prevent the entry of cell-free virus, has been correlated with the reduction in HCMV transmission and the severity of HCMV-associated disease. However, in vivo HCMV amplification may occur mainly via cell-to-cell spread. Thus, quantifying the inhibition of cell-to-cell transmission could be important in the evaluation of therapeutic antibodies and/or humoral responses to infection or immunization. Here, we established a quantitative plaque reduction assay, which allowed for the measurement of the capacity of antibodies to limit HCMV spread in vitro. Using an automated fluorescence spot reader, infection progression was assayed by the expansion of viral plaques during the course of infection with various GFP-expressing viruses. We found that in contrast to non-neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (mAbs), neutralizing mAbs against both glycoprotein B and H (gB and gH) could significantly inhibit viral plaque expansion of different HCMV strains and was equally efficient in fibroblasts as in epithelial cells. In contrast, an anti-pentamer mAb was active only in epithelial cells. Taken together, our data demonstrate that specific anti-HCMV mAbs can significantly limit cell-associated virus spread in vitro.

Authors with CRIS profile

Michael Mach Medizinische Fakultät Marco Thomas Institute of Clinical and Molecular Virology

Involved external institutions

University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) US United States (USA) (US)

How to cite

APA:

Reuter, N., Kropff, B., Britt, W.J., Mach, M., & Thomas, M. (2022). Neutralizing Antibodies Limit Cell-Associated Spread of Human Cytomegalovirus in Epithelial Cells and Fibroblasts. Viruses, 14(2). https://doi.org/10.3390/v14020284

MLA:

Reuter, Nina, et al. "Neutralizing Antibodies Limit Cell-Associated Spread of Human Cytomegalovirus in Epithelial Cells and Fibroblasts." Viruses 14.2 (2022).

BibTeX: Download