%0 Journal Article %A Eriksson, Kristina %A Bellner, Lars %A Görander, Staffan %A Löwhagen, Gun-Britt %A Tunbäck, Petra %A Rydberg, Kristina %A Liljeqvist, Jan-Åke %T CD4+ T-cell responses to herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) glycoprotein G are type specific and differ in symptomatic and asymptomatic HSV-2-infected individuals %D 2004 %J Journal of General Virology, %V 85 %N 8 %P 2139-2147 %@ 1465-2099 %R https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.79978-0 %I Microbiology Society, %X T-cell recognition of the secreted and membrane-bound portions of the herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) glycoprotein G (sgG-2 and mgG-2, respectively) was compared in symptomatic and asymptomatic HSV-2-infected individuals and in HSV-2-seronegative controls and the responses with HSV-1 glycoproteins C and E (gC-1 and gE-1) were compared. CD4+ T cells from HSV-2-infected individuals specifically recognized both sgG-2 and mgG-2, whereas HSV-1-infected and HSV-seronegative controls did not respond to these glycoproteins. The responses to gC-1 and gE-1, on the other hand, were not type specific, as blood mononuclear cells from both HSV-1- and HSV-2-infected individuals responded in vitro. There was an association between the status of the infection (symptomatic versus asymptomatic) and the CD4+ T-cell responsiveness. Symptomatic HSV-2-seropositive individuals responded with significantly lower Th1 cytokine production to sgG-2 and mgG-2 than did asymptomatic HSV-2-infected carriers, especially within the HSV-1-negative cohort. No differences in T-cell proliferation were observed between asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals. The results have implications for studies of HSV-2-specific CD4+ T-cell reactivity in general and for analysis of immunological differences between asymptomatic and symptomatic individuals in particular. %U https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.79978-0