Direct lymphocytotoxicity against herpes simplex virus infected cells

This study was undertaken to determine if direct cytotoxicity (DC) against herpes simplex virus infected cells, perhaps mediated by T cells, could be demonstrated in individuals subject to recurrent herpes labialis. The mononuclear cells from 7 out of 17 individuals with recurrent herpes expressed DC whereas no DC was ever exhibited by 7 individuals without a previous history of herpes infections. Several approaches were used to show that the cytotoxicity being detected was predominately of the direct type rather than antibody-dependent cell cytotoxicity (ADCC). Since the effector cells of the DC were sensitive to trypsin treatment and behaved as do natural killer (NK) cells upon cell fractionation, the results were taken to imply that the DC was attributable to a NK-effector cell type rather than a classical T lymphocyte.