Antibody-mediated inhibition of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) release from the EBV-productive cell lines P3HR-1 and B95-8 was probed with two monoclonal antibodies (MAbs), 72A1 and 2L10, which immunoprecipitated the same EBV membrane antigen (MA) gp350/220 found with the 1B6 MAb with which inhibition of EBV release from P3HR-1 cells was first described. These three MAbs were not equivalent in either MA reactivities or functional effects, reflecting the variable expression of different epitopes of

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... 50/220. 1B6 recognized MA on P3HR-1 cells, which expressed predominately the gp220 form of MA. 1B6 did not recognize (or barely recognized) a determinant on B95-8 cells. MAbs 2L10 and 72A1 reacted as well with B95-8 cells as they did with P3HR-1 cells. MAbs 1B6 and 2L10 neutralized neither P3HR-1 nor B95-8 virus, but 72A1 neutralized both viruses. MAbs 1B6 and 72A1 inhibited P3HR-1 virus release, as measured by the assay for infectious virus and by DNA hybridization analysis of released virus, but 2L10 had no such activity. 72A1 (but not 1B6) inhibited release of EBV from B95-8 cells. These experiments pointed to the presence of three different epitopes on gp350/220, identified with the respective MAbs and having varying involvement in virus neutralization and virus release inhibition.