title: Identification of type-specific domains within glycoprotein G of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) recognized by the majority of patients infected with HSV-2, but not by those infected with HSV-1.
abstract: A combination of phage peptide display library mapping and pepscanning, with both murine monoclonal antibodies and a panel of well-characterized human sera, have been used in order to define type-specific epitopes of glycoprotein G of herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) (gG2). Both techniques revealed an immunodominant region of gG2, centred around amino acids 525-587 of the uncleaved gG2 molecule. A soluble peptide, equivalent to amino acids 551-570, when used as antigen in an ELISA format was recognized by three out of five murine MAbs and by 20/26 (77%) Western blot anti-HSV-2-positive human sera, but by only 1/63 Western blot anti-HSV-2-negative sera (specificity, 98%). The sensitivity of detection of human anti-HSV-2 antibodies was increased to 90% using a peptide derived from this region, presented on a nitrocellulose membrane. This highly antigenic and type-specific domain of gG2 is located at the junction between the 'unique' region of gG2 and its C-terminal end, which has approximately 50% identity with gG1. A second antigenic region of gG2, amino acids 351-427, which lies within the 'unique' part of gG2, was also identified by both techniques employed in this study and is recognized by a proportion of anti-HSV-2-positive sera. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of developing a peptide-based type-specific assay for the detection of anti-HSV-2 antibody in human sera based on type-specific epitopes of gG2 and have implications for the understanding of the three-dimensional topography of gG2.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Grabowska
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jameson
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Laing
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jeansson
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sj Gren-Jansson
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taylor
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cunningham
authors.forename: W L
authors.initials: WL
authors.lastname: Irving
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D006558:Herpes Genitalis / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000097:blood / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D018259:Herpesvirus 1, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D018258:Herpesvirus 2, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D016056:Immunodominant Epitopes; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins; C045464:glycoprotein G, herpes simplex virus type 2