Human coronavirus OC43 interacts with major histocompatibility complex class I molecules at the cell surface to establish infection

Human coronaviruses have been associated with common colds, diarrhea and enterocolitis, and have been implicated in multiple sclerosis. HLA class I molecules may play a critical role as receptor for OC43 because monoclonal antibody (mAb)W6/32 to HLA-A, -B and -C specificities completely blocks infectivity in human rhabdomyosarcoma (RD) cells. The role of HLA class 1 antigen as the virus receptor was examined using HLA-A3.1 stably transfected human plasma cells and untransfected HMY.C1R cells which do not express HLA-A and -B molecules. When the cells (5x10⁶) were infected at a multiplicity of one, the HLA.A3 transfected cells produced 10⁸ PFU of virus whereas no replication occurred in the HMY.C1R cells mAb W6/32 reduced the virus yield by 99.9% Cell membranes from HMY.C1R, HMY.A3 cells and chicken erythrocytes were biotinylated as live cells. Immunoprecipitation with polyclonal antiviral antibody to detect binding of biotinylated cell membranes to virus revealed that biotinylated HMY.A3 membranes co-precipitated with virus-antibody complexes when the immunoprecipitates were electrophoresed on SDS-PAGE gel, electroblotted and stained with Avidin-horseradish peroxidase. The results provide direct evidence that OC43 virus can recognize HLA class I as receptor on the cell surface.