Increases in [ca2+]i mediated by the 92.5 kda putative cell membrane receptor for hcmv gp86. Keay, Susan, Brenda R. Baldwin, Mary W. Smith, Steven S. Wasserman, William F. Goldman. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, Research Service, The Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, MD 21201, Department of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, Division of Geographic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, 5. Geriatric Research Education and Clinical Center, The Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, MD 21201, Department of Physiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201
APStracts 2:0058C, 1995.
We determined that changes in intracellular calcium ion concentration ([Ca2+]i) occur in human fibroblasts within the first hour of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection when viral adsorption and fusion take place, and investigated whether such changes also occur in response to monoclonal anti-idiotype antibodies (mAb2) that mimic HCMV gp86 and bind to a 92.5 kDa putative cell membrane receptor for gp86. Digitized image analysis of fura 2 -loaded human embryonic lung (HEL) fibroblasts indicated specific transient increases in [Ca2+]i beginning in some cells within the first five minutes of incubation with crosslinked mAb2 (+70- 750 nM, p < .01), which were similar in timing and intracellular distribution to those induced by HCMV. A primary source of Ca2+ appeared to be intracellular Ca2+ stores, since prior depletion of these stores with 30 nM thapsigargin inhibited the response (91.7% + 8.6%,

Received 2 September 1994; accepted in final form 3 January 1995.
APS Manuscript Number C520-4.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Cell Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 27 February 1995.