Production of specific antibodies by cerebrospinal fluid lymphocytes in patients with herpes zoster, mumps meningitis and herpes simplex virus encephalitis.

We applied a new method consisting of short-term culture (18 h) of lymphocytes from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF-L) and peripheral blood (PBL) in viral antigen-coated ELISA plates and subsequent measurement of IgG and IgM antibodies bound to antigen. Utilizing mumps virus, herpes simplex virus (HSV), varicella zoster virus (VZV), and measles virus as antigens, we demonstrated production by CSF-L of antibodies against the aetiological agent only in all patients with mumps meningitis and HSV encephalitis and also in all patients with herpes zoster without central nervous system (CNS) symptoms. This might be considered as direct evidence that specific antibodies are produced within the CNS in inflammatory nervous system diseases. CSF-L usually produced higher amounts of antibodies than the corresponding number of PBL. In comparison with concentrations of free antibodies determined in parallel, our method had higher specificity and sensitivity and gave more precise information about the antibody response in infections of the nervous system.