Figure 1. HCWEs block virus binding to host cells via targeting viral particles directly.

(A) HCWEs inhibited plaque formation in pretreated virus but not in pretreated cells. In the virus pretreatment assay, 1X10⁶ Vero cells were seeded onto 6-well plates and infected with 100 pfu HSV-1 (filled square), HSV-2 (filled circle), and HSV-AR (filled triangle) pretreated with various concentrations of HCWEs as indicated and analyzed by plaque assays. In the cell pretreatment assay, 1X10⁶ Vero cells were pretreated with indicated concentrations of HCWEs followed by 100 pfu HSV-1 infection and then analyzed by plaque assays (open circle). (B) HCWEs blocked HSV-1 and HSV-2 binding to Vero cells. 1X10⁶ Vero cells were incubated with HSV at 1 m.o.i. at 4°C in the presence or absence of HCWEs, and the unbound virus was washed with ice-cold PBS. The gD of cell-bound HSV-1 was detected by Western blot assays.