Injection of Anti-thy-1.2 Serum Breaks Genetic Resistance of Mice against Herpes Simplex Virus

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Abstract
Nude mice are as resistant to i.p. infection with herps simplex virus type 1 (HSV) as their heterozygous littermates. That both activation of natural (NK) cells and interferon induction are normal in nu/nu mice after injection of HSV is shown here. Injection of silica caused increased mortality by HSV in C57BL/6 mice. Silica also led to a significant reduction of NK cell activity but had no effect on the interferon response. Treatment of C57BL/6 mice with anti-asialo GM1 (an antiserum with a predominant effect on NK cells) caused complete abolition of the NK cell response, but had no effect on interferon induction or virus-induced mortality. In further studies a monoclonal anti-thy-1.2 antibody was utilized which possessed high activity in vivo in depleting T cell responses in mice. Injection of anti-thy-1.2 decreased NK cell activation but was without effect on the interferon response. Unexpectedly, in view of the data in nu/nu mice, this antibody increased HSV-induced mortality in C57BL 6 mice. Similar data were obtained when anti-thy-1 was injected into nu/nu mice. Thus, the T cell precursors sensitive to anti-thy-1.2 present in homozygous nude mice evidently play a role in resistance against HSV. The data in the euthymic mice may indicate a role of T cells in the primary resistance of mice against HSV.