An IgG-Fc receptor induced in cytomegalovirus-infected human fibroblasts

Cytomegalovirus- (CMV) infected cultured human fibroblasts incubated with normal human serum were shown to react with IgG by direct and indirect fluorescent antibody tests. The binding of IgG to infected cells was unrelated to the presence of anti-CMV complement fixing (CF) antibodies and was not observed with uninfected cells. The reaction was first observed 36 hours after infection as diffuse cytoplasmic staining which by 72 hr became localized into a dense perinuclear structure. The cytoplasmic fluorescence was not detected with anti-IgA or anti-IgM fluorescent conjugates. The reaction was seen with purified IgG and Fc fragments but was only minimally detectable with Fab fragments. It occurred in fibroblasts infected with three standard laboratory strains of CMV and seven recent CMV isolates from patients and was observed in six separate lots of human foreskin fibroblast cultures as well as in WI-38 cells. We conclude that CMV infection induces the formation of a IgG receptor in human fibroblasts.