Detection of antibodies to herpes simplex virus with a continuous cell line expressing cloned glycoprotein D.

The gene for glycoprotein D of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) was expressed in stable mammalian cell lines. Glycoprotein D produced in these cells has a number of antigenic determinants in common with the native glycoprotein. Cell lines expressing glycoprotein D were used in an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay to detect human antibodies to glycoprotein D. This strategy should prove useful in determining the extent to which the immune response to HSV-1 is directed toward glycoprotein D.