Humoral and cellular immune responses of rabbits to sub-viral fractions of human cytomegalovirus.

We have raised specific sera against human CMV (strain AD 169) and have tested the immunogenicity of viral envelopes, removed using the non-ionic surfactant Triton X-100. Glycine-buffered extracts of infected MRC-5 cells elicited virus-neutralizing antibody to a titre of 1/1600. Incubation of this material also elicited a considerable reaction against host cell antigens. Inoculation of viral envelope material in Freund's complete adjuvant also elicited virus-neutralizing antibodies. Specific in vitro transformation of peripheral blood lymphocytes taken from inoculated rabbits was not always demonstrable, but could be achieved with blood taken from one rabbit up to one year after the initial inoculation of envelope material.