Question IV Boris was bitten by a rabid dog He was brought t

Question IV. Boris was bitten by a rabid dog. He was brought to the Emergency Room, and the attending physician ordered administration of horse serum containing anti-rabies virus immunoglobulin. What is the most likely mechanism by which the horse serum would protect the patient from developing rabies? Assess the following statements (52-55) and denote the statement, which describes the most likely mechanism as “true”, whereas the remaining 3 statements as “false”:

52. Antibodies from the horse serum will be recognized as foreign by the patient\'s immune system and this will produce an adjuvant effect that will help to stimulate the patient\'s immune response against the virus.

53. Antibodies from the horse serum will bind to rabies virus particles and neutralize them so that they are unable to infect the patient\'s cells.

54. Complement proteins in the horse serum will become activated after injection into the patient and attack the viral particles causing their destruction.

55. Antibodies from the horse serum will cause antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) of virally infected cells.

Solution

In case of viral disease, like rabies; the entry of virus into the uninfected cells is blocked by antibody-directed cell-mediated cytotoxicity by natural killer cells, and the virus is neutralized with the participation of complement (Keller MA, 2000). Based on the above information the true option is: 55. Antibodies from the horse serum will cause antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) of virally infected cells. The remaining three, 52, 53 and 54 are false.