Fine specificities of antibodies in sera and cerebrospinal fluid in herpes virus infections of the central nervous system as detected by the antigen variable immunoblot technique.

Applying the immunoblot technique a sensitive and specific method was developed for the detection of intrathecally synthesized antibodies against individual specific proteins that are antigens of various infectious agents causing encephalitis. Paired serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples from five patients with herpes virus infections of the central nervous system (CNS) (three herpes simplex virus encephalitis, one varicella zoster virus encephalitis, one zoster ganglionitis) were investigated for the presence of locally produced IgG against the electrophoretically separated antigens of herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella zoster virus (VZV) and human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), as well as for IgM antibodies in one case of HSV encephalitis. In two cases (HSV encephalitis and VZV encephalitis) four and one antibody, respectively, were found that were synthesized intrathecally only. In the other cases the patterns of sera and CSF antibodies were similar, the CSF antibodies showing an all-over stronger reaction, at identical IgG concentrations. In contrast to the conception of a 'limited heterogeneity' of intrathecal antibody synthesis in encephalitis, we thus found an 'expanded heterogeneity' of the intrathecally synthesized antibodies in comparison to the corresponding serum antibodies.