Infection enhancement of dengue type 2 virus in the U-937 human monocyte cell line by antibodies to flavivirus cross-reactive determinants

Antibody-mediated enhancement of BK virus infection in human monocytes and a human macrophage-like cell line

We have monitored BK virus (BKV) antigen expression and multiplication in human monocytes and in a human macrophage (M luminal diameter)-like cell line (U937) in the presence or absence of dilution series of human or rabbit anti-BKV antisera. After infection with BKV alone, restricted expression (structural antigens and T-antigen) and multiplication was recorded in monocytes from some donors, while in U937 cells and monocytes from other donors, no signs of viral activity were detected. Monocyte cultures established from the same donor at different times demonstrated antigen expression/multiplication on two occasions but not on the third. A pronounced enhancement of BKV expression/multiplication in human monocytes and multiplication in U937 cells was seen with some dilutions of all antisera (human and rabbit) used. The pattern of enhancement and the dilution resulting in maximum viral activity was constant and seemed to be determined by the serum, but the exact level of enhancement for a given serum differed considerably in monocytes from different donors and seemed to be determined by the cells. In the latter respect, monocytes taken from the same donor some weeks apart showed variations at the same level, as did cells from different donors. PMA (phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate) stimulation of monocytes and U937 cells resulted in stronger antibody enhancement in terms of infectivity, without affecting the number of monocytes showing antigen expression. No expression/multiplication of BKV was detected in the murine M luminal diameter-like cell line P338 DI.

Pathogenesis of dengue: challenges to molecular biology

Dengue viruses occur as four antigenically related but distinct serotypes transmitted to humans by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. These viruses generally cause a benign syndrome, dengue fever, in the American and African tropics, and a severe syndrome, dengue hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome (DHF/DSS), in Southeast Asian children. This severe syndrome, which recently has also been identified in children infected with the virus in Puerto Rico, is characterized by increased vascular permeability and abnormal hemostasis. It occurs in infants less than 1 year of age born to dengue-immune mothers and in children 1 year and older who are immune to one serotype of dengue virus and are experiencing infection with a second serotype. Dengue viruses replicate in cells of mononuclear phagocyte lineage, and subneutralizing concentrations of dengue antibody enhance dengue virus infection in these cells. This antibody-dependent enhancement of infection regulates dengue disease in human beings, although disease severity may also be controlled genetically, possibly by permitting and restricting the growth of virus in monocytes. Monoclonal antibodies show heterogeneous distribution of antigenic epitopes on dengue viruses. These epitopes serve to regulate disease: when antibodies to shared antigens partially neutralize heterotypic virus, infection and disease are dampened; enhancing antibodies alone result in heightened disease response. Further knowledge of the structure of dengue genomes should permit rapid advances in understanding the pathogenetic mechanisms of dengue.

Study of the distribution of antibody-dependent enhancement determinants on dengue 2 isolates using dengue 2-derived monoclonal antibodies

Dengue 2 (DEN-2) strains isolated from children during the 1980 metropolitan Bangkok epidemic were shown to possess antigenic homogeneity when studied for determinants mediating antibody-dependent infection enhancement using DEN-2 monoclonal antibodies. All isolates possessed multiple enhancing determinants, but those associated with mild and severe dengue syndromes could not be distinguished. Either the basis of disease severity in dengue is more complex than the mere presence or absence of virus epitopes involved in enhanced infection or enhancing epitopes have differences not detected in this system with monoclonal antibodies raised to the same serotype.

Human antibody response to immunization with 17D yellow fever and inactivated TBE vaccine

The antibody response against flaviviruses tick-borne encephalitis (TBE), Kyasanur Forest disease (KFD), Murray Valley encephalitis (MVE), West Nile fever (WNF), Japanese B encephalitis (JE), dengue 2 (DEN-2), and yellow fever (YF) was studied in humans after administration of an inactivated TBE virus vaccine. Individuals were either prevaccinated with 17D yellow fever (experimental group) or without any previous exposure to flaviviruses (control group). The appearance of serum titres of homologous and heterologous haemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibodies, heterotypic DEN-2 neutralizing antibodies, and TBE enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) antibodies were examined. Individuals prevaccinated with the 17D yellow fever developed an antibody pattern that contrasted with that of the control group. This pattern was characterized as follows: (1) Predominantly anti-TBE IgG antibodies appeared earlier and in higher titres than in the control group, (2) heterologous HI antibodies cross-reacting with the WN flavivirus subgroup preceded the appearance of homologous HI antibodies, (3) a broad spectrum HI response was observed against all flaviviruses tested, and (4) low titre heterotypic DEN-2 neutralizing antibodies were formed in about half of the cases. These observations are discussed in the context of cross-reactivity, cross-protection and virus infection enhancement.

Enhancement of dengue virus infection in cultured mouse macrophages by lipophilic derivatives of muramyl peptides

Dengue virus multiplication in cultures of a murine myelomonocytic cell line (WEHI-3) as well as mouse peritoneal macrophages was enhanced by treatment of the cells with lipophilic derivatives of muramyl peptides for 2 or 3 days before virus inoculation, but not for 2 hr before virus inoculation or during the adsorption period. The infection-enhancing activity of the materials was dependent on their chemical structure, correlating with their immunoadjuvanticity. The infection enhancement in WEHI-3 cells was due primarily to an increase in the number of virus-infected cells which was accompanied by an increased cellular capacity to bind latex particles to their cell surfaces.

Increased multiplication of dengue virus in mouse peritoneal macrophage cultures by treatment with extracts of Ascaris-Parascaris parasites

Methylcellulose-elicited peritoneal macrophages from BALB/c mice were cultivated in vitro and inoculated with dengue virus (DV). At intervals thereafter portions of the culture fluids were taken and titrated for viral infectivity. Extracts from Ascaris suum and Parascaris equorum, either crude or Sephadex G-100 fractionated, were examined for effects on the multiplication of DV. The macrophage cultures treated with the above substances produced larger amounts of DV compared with untreated control cultures. The enhancing effect of the substances depended on doses added and duration of treatment and was suppressed by co-treatment with carrageenan, a specific macrophage-inhibiting agent, but was not related to the viability of cultured cells. In fluorescent antibody (FA) as well as infectious center assay experiments, it was shown that the DV-infected cells were found more frequently in treated cultures than in untreated control cultures. In the treated cultures phagocytosis by cultured cells was also of a higher magnitude than that in untreated cultures. In cocultures of macrophages and splenocytes from the same line of mice, no additive effect of splenocytes was noted. The limulus amebocyte lysate clotting enzyme reaction (Limulus test) indicated that involvement of bacterial lipopolysaccharides in the enhancement phenomena was negligible. The data so far obtained suggest that the enhancing effect was due to direct action of the parasitic extracts on macrophages. Four Sephadex G-100 fractions from the crude extracts showed similar activities; however, the effects of fractions I and III appeared to be comparatively strong. Significance of the findings in relation to the pathogenesis of DV infection was discussed.

Lack of viraemia and limited antibody response of dengue virus immune rhesus monkeys after vaccination with DEN-2/S-1 vaccine

A dengue-2 live virus vaccine was tested in monkeys immune to heterologous dengue serotypes to determine if, as with wild DEN-2 virus, antibody-enhanced viraemia and seroconversion would occur. A low dose of 900 plaque-forming units (PFU) of the DEN-2/S-1 vaccine virus was inoculated subcutaneously into rhesus monkeys six months after they had received wild DEN-1, DEN-2 or DEN-3 viruses, and into non-immune monkeys. As previously reported for non-immune monkeys, there was little, if any, detectable vaccine viraemia in any of the groups of monkeys. There was no difference in seroconversion between the dengue heterologously immune (3/6) and non-immune (1/3) monkeys. These data indicated that (i) the vaccine virus may differ from the parent virus in the ability to complex with heterologous antibody and, thus, in the ability to infect Fc receptor bearing cells in monkeys; (ii) 10(3) PFU of vaccine virus is approximately the 50% infectious dose in monkeys as measured by seroconversion.

Dengue type 2 virus infection in human peripheral blood monocyte cultures

Dengue type 2 virus (D2V) infection in cultured human monocytes was studied. D2V permissiveness of the monocytes was enhanced when the cells were inoculated with D2V in the presence of either polyclonal or type-specific monoclonal anti-dengue antibody. The enhancement of D2V permissiveness mediated by the antibodies was more clearly demonstrated when the monocytes had been treated with trypsin before virus inoculation, though treatment of the cells with trypsin alone decreased D2V permissiveness. The enhancement of infection by type-specific neutralizing monoclonal antibody suggests that the D2V particles possess at least two antigenic determinants closely associated with virus infectivity. Infectious center assays revealed that the infection enhancement in the presence of the antibodies was due primarily to an increase in the number of D2V-infected cells, and that only a small proportion of the monocyte population supported D2V replication. The virus-permissive monocytes did not bear HLA-DR antigens on their cell surface. The presence of nonadherent lymphocytes in the monocyte cultures before D2V inoculation did not affect the D2V permissiveness of the monocytes. Treatment of cultured monocytes with the synthetic adjuvants N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine (MDP) and its lipophilic derivative, [B30]-MDP, did not significantly affect the D2V permissiveness of the cells.

Macrophage Fc receptors control infectivity and neutralization of canine distemper virus-antibody complexes

Dogs that are persistently infected or that become moribund after exposure to canine distemper virus (CDV) have antibody that neutralized CDV when tested in dog lung macrophage cultures but failed to neutralize CDV when tested in epithelial, fibroblastic, or lymphatic cells. The antibody attached to protein A and was found in the immunoglobulin G fraction. The antibody bound complement and lysed CDV-infected target cells. The neutralizing activity in macrophages could be abolished (i) by pepsin digestion and removal of Fc portions from the antibody, (ii) by blocking the Fc receptors of macrophages with heat-treated normal dog serum, and (iii) by binding of protein A to Fc portions of the antibody. It was concluded that attachment of the CDV-antibody complex to Fc receptors of macrophages was essential for virus neutralization. If this attachment was hindered, the CDV-antibody complex became infectious for macrophages. In contrast, serum from recovering dogs neutralized CDV when tested in epithelial, fibroblastic, or lymphatic cells as well as in macrophages.

The application of monoclonal antibodies in the study of viruses

This chapter discusses the applications of monoclonal antibodies in virology. A single monoclonal antibody can provide information on protein “relatedness,” structure, function, synthesis, processing, and cellular or tissue distribution and on the association among molecules. The use of monoclonal antibodies provides valuable insight into the working of the protein both as an enzyme and as a target for the host immune response, evolving in reaction to that response. Monoclonal antibodies find application in two main areas: (1) in the field of rapid diagnosis of virus disease in man, animals, and plants and (2) in the extension of virus taxonomy. Monoclonal antibodies may be used to analyze the role of a protein. This ability to distinguish related proteins can be used to provide a genetic marker in recombination experiments. Monoclonal antibodies can detect low amounts of individual virus proteins within the infected cell. They can, thus, provide information concerning the temporal and spatial separation of protein formation and accumulation, and data on protein modification and processing in the infected cell.

Identification of epitopes on the E glycoprotein of Saint Louis encephalitis virus using monoclonal antibodies

Twenty-one hybridomas producing monoclonal antibodies specific for the E glycoprotein of St. Louis encephalitis (SLE) virus, strain MSI-7, have been isolated. Serologic reactivities were initially determined by cross-reactivity indirect immunofluorescence assays using 22 strains of SLE virus and 8 other related flaviviruses. Four groups demonstrating type-, subcomplex-, supercomplex-, and group-specific reactivity patterns were identified. Analysis of hemagglutination-inhibition (HI) and virus neutralization (N) subdivided the cross-reactivity groups into eight epitopes (E-1a,b,c,d, E-2, E-3, and E-4a,b). The antibodies could detect strain differences between SLE viruses isolated from various geographic areas. Analysis of the spatial arrangements of these epitopes using competitive binding assays with representative antibodies possessing similar binding avidities, indicated that the protein was a continuum of six overlapping domains.

Complement receptor mediates enhanced flavivirus replication in macrophages

Evidence is presented that M phi complement receptors (CR3) mediate IgM-dependent enhancement of flavivirus replication in the presence of complement. Enhancement is blocked by pretreatment of macrophages with monoclonal antibody Ml/70, which inhibits CR3 binding, but not by pretreatment with monoclonal antibody 2.4G2, which inhibits FcR binding.

Immunological enhancement and the pathogenesis of dengue haemorrhagic fever

Laboratory studies have provided evidence that the replication of dengue viruses in preparations of primary peripheral blood mononuclear cells of human or simian origin, or in macrophage-like cell lines of human or murine origin, may be enhanced by sub-neutralizing concentrations of homotypic dengue antibody, by heterotypic dengue antibody, or by antibody against heterologous flaviviruses. The mechanism underlying this phenomenon is discussed in the context of dengue haemorrhagic fever and the dengue shock syndrome.