Reaction patterns of herpes simplex virus type 1 and type 2 proteins with sera of patients with uterine cervical carcinoma and matched controls.

Serum from 105 individuals with diagnosed uterine cervical cancer and 231 matched controls were examined for their ability to react with a large number of herpes simplex virus type 1 or type 2 (HSV-1, HSV-2) proteins. Radiolabeled HSV-1 or HSV-2 proteins were mixed with test serum and immune complexes were isolated with staphylococcal protein A. Viral proteins in the immune complexes were resolved by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and visualized by fluorography. When the frequency of precipitation for cancer and control serum was calculated for each HSV-1 and HSV-2 protein, the results demonstrated that four HSV-1 and 11 HSV-2 proteins were precipitated more frequently by cases than by controls (p less than or equal to 0.05). However, since these results could be influenced by the presence or absence of HSV-2 specific antibodies as well as social, economic, and sexual history, the data were grouped and analyzed according to these parameters. This enabled all significant differences between case and control sera in the precipitation of HSV-1 or HSV-2 proteins to be abolished except for two HSV-2 proteins with molecular weights of 38,000 and 118,000. These two proteins appear to be tumor associated and not merely covariables of past infection or risk factors alone.