High cytotoxic activity against herpes simplex virus type 1 infected targets found in murine peritoneum

Unelicited murine peritoneal cells (PC) were found to efficiently lyse the natural cytotoxic (NC) cell target, WEHI-164, as well as herpes simplex virus-type 1 (HSV-1)-infected WEHI-164 and 3T3 cells but not the natural killer (NK) target, YAC-1. Lysis by PC of HSV-1-infected WEHI-164 and 3T3 cells required longer culture times than splenic cell lysis of YAC-1 cells. The PCs which lysed these targets were found to be slightly adherent to nylon wool but non-phagocytic, and were not augmented by preincubation with interferon. Also, PC effectors lacked Qa-5 and asialo GM1 markers which are found on splenic NK cells which lysed YAC-1 targets. We found that there was no correlation between peritoneal NC activity and genetic resistance to HSV-1.