Dengue type 2 virus (D2V) infection in cultured human monocytes was studied. D2V permissiveness of the monocytes was enhanced when the cells were inoculated with D2V in the presence of either polyclonal or type-specific monoclonal anti-dengue antibody. The enhancement of D2V permissiveness mediated by the antibodies was more clearly demonstrated when the monocytes had been treated with trypsin before virus inoculation, though treatment of the cells with trypsin alone decreased D2V permissiveness. The enhancement of infection by type-specific neutralizing monoclonal antibody suggests that the D2V particles possess at least two antigenic determinants closely associated with virus infectivity.
Infectious center assays revealed that the infection enhancement in the presence of the antibodies was due primarily to an increase in the number of D2V-infected cells, and that only a small proportion of the monocyte population supported D2V replication. The virus-permissive monocytes did not bear HLA-DR antigens on their cell surface. The presence of nonadherent lymphocytes in the monocyte cultures before D2V inoculation did not affect the D2V permissiveness of the monocytes.
Treatment of cultured monocytes with the synthetic adjuvants N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine (MDP) and its lipophilic derivative, [B30]-MDP, did not significantly affect the D2V permissiveness of the cells.