Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology (May 2021)

Immunological Identification and Characterization of the Capsid Scaffold Protein Encoded by UL26.5 of Herpes Simplex Virus Type 2

  • Xueqi Li,
  • Jianbin Wang,
  • Tangwei Mou,
  • Yang Gao,
  • Lichun Wang,
  • Shengtao Fan,
  • Xingli Xu,
  • Guorun Jiang,
  • Pingfang Cui,
  • Xiangxiong Xu,
  • Suqin Duan,
  • Jingjing Zhang,
  • Dandan Li,
  • Yun Liao,
  • Li Yu,
  • Heng Zhao,
  • Ming Lu,
  • Hailian Zhu,
  • Ran Gu,
  • Ying Zhang,
  • Wei Dong,
  • Qihan Li

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2021.649722
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 11

Abstract

Read online

Herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV2), a pathogen that causes genital herpes lesions, interferes with the host immune system via various known and unknown mechanisms. This virus has been used to study viral antigenic composition. Convalescent serum from HSV2-infected patients was used to identify viral antigens via 2-D protein electrophoresis and immunoblotting. The serum predominantly recognized several capsid scaffold proteins encoded by gene UL26.5, mainly ICP35. This protein has been primarily reported to function temporarily in viral assembly but is not expressed in mature virus particles. Further immunological studies suggested that this protein elicits specific antibody and cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) responses in mice, but these responses do not result in a clinical protective effect in response to HSV2 challenge. The data suggested that immunodominance of ICP35 might be used to design an integrated antigen with other viral glycoproteins.

Keywords