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Takahiro Watanabe, MD, PhD; Koichiro Nakamura, MD, PhD; Motoshi Wakugawa, MD; Atsushi Kato, PhD; Yoshiyuki Nagai, PhD; Tatsuo Shioda, PhD; Aikichi Iwamoto, MD, PhD; Kunihiko Tamaki, MD

Arch Dermatol. 2000;136:1518-1522.

Background  Since many attempts to cultivate molluscum contagiosum virus (MCV) in vitro have been unsuccessful, it is difficult to prepare a large quantity of antigens. To assess the seroprevalence of antibodies against MCV in 508 subjects with or without clinical MCV infection, a truncated recombinant protein from open-reading frame MC133L was synthesized using Sendai virus expression system and applied to enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay as an antigen.

Observations  Antibodies to MCV were present in 7 (58%) of 12 patients with molluscum contagiosum, 7 (6%) of 108 healthy controls, 7 (9%) of 76 with atopic dermatitis, and 7 (18%) of 39 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, although no clinical MCV infection was observed in the latter 3 groups. Of 7 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–positive patients with molluscum contagiosum, 1 (14%) was antibody positive, compared with 5 (2%) of 266 HIV-positive patients without molluscum contagiosum. Serum samples from patients with atopic dermatitis and systemic lupus erythematosus showed a higher reactivity (P<.001) than those from healthy controls, while serum samples from HIV-positive subjects showed a lower reactivity (P<.001).

Conclusion  The humoral immune response to MCV is usually confined to patients with molluscum contagiosum and may be affected by the immunological condition of the host.

From the Departments of Dermatology, Faculty of Medicine, (Drs Watanabe, Nakamura, Wakugawa, and Tamaki), Viral Infection, Institute of Medical Science (Drs Kato and Nagai), and Infectious Diseases, Institute of Medical Science (Drs Shioda and Iwamoto), University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan. Dr Watanabe is now with the Dermatology Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.

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