LAUSR

Viral infection is associated with the development of asthma. However, the role of Human Herpesviriuses (HHV) in chronic lung diseases remains obscure. In order to evaluate the patterns and immune response to HHV infection, we detected the levels of antiviral IgG and IgE-Abs to Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV1), Cytomegalovirus(CMV) and Epstein-Barr Virus(EBV) in patients with bronchial asthma(BA)of different severity using modified ELISA. For assessment the influence of HHV on autoreactivity, the levels of IgE and IgG4-Abs to a tissue Ags were estimated. Asthma patients have significantly enhanced frequency of seropositivity to HSV1, CMV and EBV with predominantly higher sIgG titer levels(1:800-1:2000), as markers of active infection, compared to healthy non-asthmatic controls(1:200-1:400). The strong correlation between IgG-Abs to HHV and IgE auto-Abs to collagen III and VI and negative association between antiviral IgG-Abs and sIgG4 to self-tissue Abs were estimated (P