| First Author | Vacheron S | Year | 2002 |
| Journal | J Immunol | Volume | 168 |
| Issue | 7 | Pages | 3470-6 |
| PubMed ID | 11907107 | Mgi Jnum | J:126391 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3761200 | Doi | 10.4049/jimmunol.168.7.3470 |
| Citation | Vacheron S, et al. (2002) Preferential infection of immature dendritic cells and B cells by mouse mammary tumor virus. J Immunol 168(7):3470-6 |
| abstractText | Until now it was thought that the retrovirus mouse mammary tumor virus preferentially infects B cells, which thereafter proliferate and differentiate due to superantigen-mediated T cell help. We describe in this study that dendritic cells are infectable at levels comparable to B cells in the first days after virus injection. Moreover, IgM knockout mice have chronically deleted superantigen-reactive T cells after MMTV injection, indicating that superantigen presentation by dendritic cells is sufficient for T cell deletion. In both subsets initially only few cells were infected, but there was an exponential increase in numbers of infected B cells due to superantigen-mediated T cell help, explaining that at the peak of the response infection is almost exclusively found in B cells. The level of infection in vivo was below 1 in 1000 dendritic cells or B cells. Infection levels in freshly isolated dendritic cells from spleen, Langerhans cells from skin, or bone marrow-derived dendritic cells were compared in an in vitro infection assay. Immature dendritic cells such as Langerhans cells or bone marrow-derived dendritic cells were infected 10- to 30-fold more efficiently than mature splenic dendritic cells. Bone marrow-derived dendritic cells carrying an endogenous mouse mammary tumor virus superantigen were highly efficient at inducing a superantigen response in vivo. These results highlight the importance of professional APC and efficient T cell priming for the establishment of a persistent infection by mouse mammary tumor virus. |
