Glycoproteins with type common and type specific antigenic sites excreted from cells infected with herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2

Agar immunodiffusion tests demonstrated that BHK 21 cells infected with either HSV 1 or HSV 2 release only a few HSV-specified antigens into the extracellular fluid (infected cell released polypeptides - ICRP). Neutralization blocking experiments showed that the majority of antigens/(including the Band II common antigen) involved as target sites in antibody-mediated virus neutralization are present in the ICRP of both HSV 1 and HSV 2. SDS-PAGE identified six regions of virus-specified proteins in the ICRP from both HSV 1- and HSV 2-infected BHK cells. All these specifically released proteins are glycosylated, although to varying degrees. The SDS-PAGE profiles of HSV 1 and HSV 2 ICRP are different but do show some similarities, the most notable being a highly glycosylated protein with an estimated mol. wt. of 50000 to 54000 in HSV 1 ICRP and 52000 to 56000 in HSV 2 ICRP. Immune precipitation demonstrated that these two proteins contain the Band II antigenic site. Similar studies showed that the major type I specific antigenic site, which is involved as a target site in the neutralization of virus infectivity, is located in the highest mol. wt. glycoprotein region of HSV 1 ICRP and has a similar mobility to the VP7/8 region of purified enveloped virus.