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Science 24 March 1978:
Vol. 199. no. 4335, pp. 1337 - 1340
DOI: 10.1126/science.204010
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Articles

Science, Vol 199, Issue 4335, 1337-1340
Copyright © 1978 by American Association for the Advancement of Science

articles

Immunity to antigens associated with primate C-type oncoviruses in pregnant women

MS Hirsch, AP Kelly, DS Chapin, TC Fuller, PH Black, and R Kurth

Cell-mediated and humoral immune responses against antigens associated with primate C-type oncoviruses were evaluated in humans by microcytotoxicity and radioimmunoprecipitation assays. Five of six women tested sequentially during pregnancy developed selective cell-mediated reactivity against baboon endogenous virus (BEV)--infected human fibroblasts. Responsiveness peaked during the second and third trimesters and corresponded temporally with elevated antibody levels to BEV antigens. Similar cell-mediated reactivity was not observed in nonpregnant individuals. Selective cell-mediated reactivity directed against cells infected with the simian sarcoma virus-simian sarcoma associated virus complex (SSV--SSAV) was observed in four of 20 healthy adults (three of 14 nonpregnant, one of six pregnant). These observations suggest that cell-mediated reactivity against primate C-type oncoviruses is occasionally detected in healthy nonpregnant adults, but that during pregnancy both cell-mediated and humoral reactivity against BEV may become selectively expressed.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Human Endogenous Retroviral Sequences: Possible Roles in Reproductive Physiopathology.
D. Taruscio and A. Mantovani (1998)
Biol Reprod 59, 713-724
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