Analysis of the HSV-2 early AG-4 antigen

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Abstract
Genital herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) infections can be distinguished from present or past HSV-1 infections by an AG-4 antigen complement fixation assay. The assay which utilizes a 4 hour HSV-2 infected cell extract prepared at a multiplicity of infection (MOI) of 1.0 PFU/cell, appears to consist of several viral proteins. Studies using monoclonal antibodies, polyclonal rabbit hyperimmune serum, HSV-1×HSV-2 intertypic recombinant viruses and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis suggest that ICP8 may be one of the major antigens involved in the complement fixing reaction. It is probable that the success of the assay is not due to a true type specificity but rather a threshold phenomenon in which HSV-2 extracts contain more early viral antigens (including ICP8) and sera from HSV-2 patients contain more complement fixing antibody to these antigens.