Neutralization of respiratory syncytial virus after cell attachment

Little is known about the mechanisms of antibody-mediated neutralization of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) which causes recurrent infections in humans despite the virtually universal presence of neutralizing serum antibodies. Human serum neutralization titers showed strong correlation with post-cell-attachment neutralizing liters for both RSV-convalescent sera and control sera but showed less strong correlation with cell-attachment blocking titers. Neutralization was effective for the first 60 min of infection, indicating that immune serum-mediated neutralization of RSV infection largely involves inhibition of early events following cell attachment.