Serum Proteins and Antibody Activity in Human Nasal Secretions *

The presence of serum proteins and antibody activity against a variety of bacteria and viruses has been described in certain human secretions and excretions: vaginal (2, 3), salivary (4, 5), in-testinal (6), prostatic (7), urine (8, 9), and feces (10, 11). The capacity of human nasal secretions to inactivate viruses was first described by Amoss and Taylor in 1917 (12) and confirmed by Howitt in 1937 (13). In 1939 Burnet, Lush, and Jackson (14) published the results of their stud-ies with a number of viruses including influenza and poliomyelitis. These authors were doubtful whether the protocols of Amoss and Taylor and of Howitt were sufficient to justify the conclusion that any specific viricidal agent was concerned and concluded from their own data that the inacti-vating agent is most likely an enzyme. In 1941 Francis and Brightman (15) reported the develop-ment or increase in the viral inactivating capacity of nasal secretions of individuals in the acute and convalescent stages of influenza and later, the en-hanced capacity of nasal secretions to inactivate the virus when vaccination with influenza virus induces a significant increase in titer of neutraliz-ing antibodies in the blood (16). In 1948 Bell (17), working with polio virus, published addi-tional evidence that the neutralizing substance is specific antibody, although in two instances in which the nasal secretions neutralized the virus, * Submitted for publication February 19, 1964; ac-