An immunoelectron microscopic analysis of Epstein-Barr virus-associated complement-fixing antigen.

Epstein-Barr virus-associated, complement-fixing antigens have been observed with a complement-mediating immunoreaction and with the peroxidase-labeled anticomplement antibody electron microscopic method. Postive reaction products could be found in the nuclei of P3HR-1 cell lines. At high magnification, it was ascertained that the reaction-positive precipitates were associated with chromatin and were mostly either finely granular or filamentous, which suggests that the antigen was not uniform. It was speculated that the antigen would be analogous to the SV40 T-antigen, since the localization pattern of the positive reaction was similar in both antigens. This new, modified method using complement may also be used for detection of a natural antibody of unknown class or for low-sensitivity systems of antigen-antibody reactions. Thus, this method appears useful for studying various kinds of experimental materials.