Antibody-resistant spread of vesicular stomatitis virus infection in cell lines of epithelial origin.

In MDCK cells, vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) buds exclusively from the basolateral plasma membranes beneath tight junctions, whereas influenza virus forms only at the free apical surface. Anti-VSV antiserum did not prevent the formation of plaques on MDCK cell monolayers infected with VSV, whereas plaque formation in BHK-21 cells was completely inhibited by such antiserum. Under similar conditions, homologous antiserum completely prevented plaque formation by influenza virus on MDCK cells. In several other epithelioid cell lines, VSV also formed plaques in the presence of specific antiserum. These results suggest that VSV receptors are present on basolateral membranes in the cells studied and that junctional complexes present between cells may exclude antibody from intercellular spaces and thus permit the lateral spread of virus infection in the presence of neutralizing antibody.