Lysis of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infected targets. I. A comparison of the activity of lymphocytes from patients with HSV recurrences at different anatomical sites.

The lysis of herpes simplex virus type I (HSV-1) infected allogeneic targets by peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) from patients with recurrent HSV lesions at different anatomical sites was compared. Eighteen patients with recurrent HSV lesions of the cornea, but with no history of HSV recurrences at other anatomical sites (Group I donors); 13 patients with corneal HSV and oral-facial HSV recurrences (Group II donors); and 24 donors with no history of HSV recurrences (control donors) were included in the study. PBL from Group I donors demonstrated low levels of cytotoxicity for HSV-1 infected allogeneic targets relative to controls (p less than 0.001) and Group II donors (p less than 0.001). This low level of lytic activity against HSV infected allogeneic targets was associated with depressed natural killer lysis of K562 cells (NK-K562). PBL from Group II donors did not demonstrate depressed NK-K562 activity. Furthermore, after incubation for 48 hours with HSV-1, PBL from Group II donors showed increased lytic activity against allogeneic HSV infected targets, autologous blast cell targets, and HSV-1 infected autologous blast cell targets, relative to PBL incubated without HSV-1. Similar incubation with HSV-1 of PBL from Group I donors did not result in increased lytic activity.