The Journal of Experimental Medicine
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Published online April 9, 2007
doi:10.1084/jem.20061937
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. 204, No. 4, 941-949
The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007 $30.00
© 2007 Shin et al.
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ARTICLE

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

Haina Shin1, Shawn D. Blackburn1, Joseph N. Blattman2, and E. John Wherry1

1 Immunology Program, The Wistar Institute, Philadelphia, PA 19104
2 Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA 98109

CORRESPONDENCE E. John Wherry: jwherry{at}wistar.org

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.

Abbreviations used: Arm, Armstrong; LCMV, lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus; p.i., postinfection; RTE, recent thymic emigrant.


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