Antigen-specific immune-suppressor factor in herpes simplex virus type 2 infections of UV B-irradiated mice

UV B-irradiation (280 to 320 nm) of mice at the site of cutaneous infection with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) induced suppressor T-cell circuits that decreased HSV-2-induced proliferative responses of HSV-2-immune lymph node cells. Adoptive transfer experiments indicated that splenocytes from UV B-irradiated HSV-2-infected animals contain L3T4+ cells that suppress proliferative responses in vivo, consistent with suppressor inducer cells. However, following in vitro culture of the splenocytes with HSV-2 antigen, the proliferation of immune lymph node cells was inhibited by Lyt2+ suppressor T cells, consistent with antigen-induced suppressor effector cells. Antigen-specific and nonspecific suppressor factors were fractionated from supernatants of HSV-2-stimulated spleen cells by molecular-sieve chromatography. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of the Sephadex fraction that contained the antigen-specific suppressor factor, in the presence or absence of 2-mercaptoethanol, defined a 115-kilodalton protein consisting of two disulfide-bound components with molecular sizes of 70 and 52 kilodaltons. The implications of these results with respect to the regulation of HSV-induced cell-mediated immunity following UV B-irradiation are discussed.