Increasing inflationary T‐cell responses following transient depletion of MCMV‐specific memory T cells. Issue 1 (17th November 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Sims, Stuart; Klenerman, Paul
• Is Part Of: European journal of immunology. Volume 45:Issue 1(2015)
• Page Start: 113
• Page End: 118
• Publication Date: 2014-11-17
• Subjects: Immunology -- Periodicals; 616.079
• DOI: 10.1002/eji.201445016
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0014-2980

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <p>Murine CMV (MCMV) infection induces effector CD8⁺ T cells that continue to increase in frequency after acute infection ("inflation") and are stably maintained at a high frequency, with up to 20% of the CD8⁺ T‐cell compartment being specific for one epitope, although the flexibility and turnover of these populations is not fully defined. Here we report that effector/memory CD8⁺ T cells induced by MCMV can be paradoxically boosted following transient depletion of epitope specific CD8⁺ T cells. Treatment of MCMV‐infected mice with MHC‐Class I‐saporin tetramers led to partial (80–90%) depletion of epitope‐specific CD8⁺ T cells—rapidly followed by a rebound, leading to expansion and maintenance of up to 40% of total CD8⁺ T cells, with minimal changes in response to a control epitope (M45). These data indicate the tight balance between host and virus during persistent infection and the functional flexibility of the "inflated" CD8⁺ T cell responses during persistent infection.</p> </abstract>