Ability of monoclonal antibody to herpes simplex virus glycoprotein gB to promote healing of herpetic skin lesions in nude mice.

The effect of monoclonal antibody (MCA) to glycoprotein gB of herpes simplex virus (HSV) was studied in athymic nude mice inoculated with HSV intracutaneously in the midflank. HS1, the MCA used in the study, had a high neutralizing titer (1:2048) and had antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. HS1 was injected intraperitoneally at various intervals after HSV infection. HS1 injected 3 h after infection inhibited the development of skin lesions and most mice survived. Administration of HS1 at the time the local skin erosions appeared at the inoculated site (4-7 days after infection) was also effective, and in four of eight mice skin lesions completely healed. Furthermore, in three of four mice that survived, latent infections in the ganglia were also prevented as evidenced by the failure to detect HSV by co-cultivation with Vero cells. Administration of HS1 after the development of zosteriform skin lesions (5-9 days after infection) reduced virus in the ganglia and prolonged the survival time, though the disease was not completely arrested and all the mice died eventually.