| First Author | Stevenson PG | Year | 1998 |
| Journal | Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A | Volume | 95 |
| Issue | 26 | Pages | 15565-70 |
| PubMed ID | 9861009 | Mgi Jnum | J:120034 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:3703700 | Doi | 10.1073/pnas.95.26.15565 |
| Citation | Stevenson PG, et al. (1998) Virus-specific CD8(+) T cell numbers are maintained during gamma-herpesvirus reactivation in CD4-deficient mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 95(26):15565-70 |
| abstractText | The murine gamma-herpesvirus 68 replicates in epithelial sites after intranasal challenge, then persists in various cell types, including B lymphocytes. Mice that lack CD4(+) T cells (I-Ab-/-) control the acute infection, but suffer an ultimately lethal recrudescence of lytic viral replication in the respiratory tract. The consequences of CD4(+) T cell deficiency for the generation and maintenance of murine gamma-herpesvirus 68-specific CD8(+) set now have been analyzed by direct staining with viral peptides bound to major histocompatibility complex class I tetramers and by a spectrum of functional assays. Both acutely and during viral reactivation, the CD8(+) T cell responses in the I-Ab-/- group were no less substantial than in the I-Ab+/+ controls. Indeed, virus-specific CD8(+) T cell numbers were increased in the lymphoid tissue of clinically compromised I-Ab-/- mice, although relatively few of the potential cytotoxic T lymphocyte effectors were recruited back to the site of pathology in the lung. Thus the viral reactivation that occurs in the absence of CD4(+) T cells was not associated with any exhaustion of the virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte response. It seems that CD8(+) T cells alone are insufficient to maintain long-term control of this persistent gamma-herpesvirus. |
