Characterization of the “Enzymic” Action of Influenza Viruses on Human Red Cells

Abstract

Summary and Conclusions: Two capacities of the influenzal group of viruses (a) the agglutination of RBC, and (b) the elution or liberation of the viral particles from the RBC with concomitant receptor destruction, can be dissociated by appropriate treatment. Elutability can be destroyed by heating which is without action on the hemagglutinative titer; such heated virus can be liberated by RDF from RBC to which it is absorbed. The elutability of viruses is influenced in general by the same treatments and in the same direction as the activity of the soluble factor, RDF, derived from the cholera vibrio. The evidence presented is consistent with the hypothesis that a factor closely resembling RDF is an integral part of the surface of these viruses and that it plays an important role in the initial virus-cell interaction.