Viral antigen and extensive division maintain virus-specific CD8 T cells during chronic infection

Haina Shin, Shawn D. Blackburn, Joseph N. Blattman, E. John Wherry

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

220 Scopus citations

Abstract

Efficient maintenance of memory CD8 T cells is central to long-term protective immunity. IL-7- and IL-15-driven homeostatic proliferation is essential for long-term memory CD8 T cell persistence after acute infections. During chronic infections, however, virus-specific CD8 T cells respond poorly to these cytokines. Yet, virus-specific CD8 T cells often persist for long periods of time during chronic infections. We have addressed this apparent paradox by examining the mechanism for maintaining virus-specific CD8 T cells during chronic infection. We find that homeostatic cytokines (e.g., IL-7/15), inflammatory signals, and priming of recent thymic emigrants are not sufficient to maintain virus-specific CD8 T cells over time during chronic infection. Rather, our results demonstrate that viral peptide is required for virus-specific CD8 T cell persistence during chronic infection. Moreover, this viral antigen-dependent maintenance results in a dramatically different type of T cell division than is normally observed during memory T cell homeostasis. Rather than undergoing slow, steady homeostatic turnover during chronic viral infection, CD8 T cells undergo extensive peptide-dependent division, yet cell numbers remain relatively stable. These results indicate that antigen-specific CD8 T cell responses during persisting infection are maintained by a mechanism distinct from that after acute infection. JEM

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)941-949
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Experimental Medicine
Volume204
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 16 2007
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Immunology and Allergy
  • Immunology

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