title: Frequency of herpes simplex virus-specific helper T lymphocyte precursors in the lymph node cells of infected mice.
abstract: We have established a limited dilution assay to estimate the frequency of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV)-specific, interleukin 2 (IL 2)-producing helper T lymphocyte precursors (HTL-P). The estimated frequency of such cells in suspensions of local lymph node (LN) cells 5 days after in vivo virus infection was 1:2470 to 1:5800. Frequencies of HTL-P in cells from uninfected mice were below levels of detection of our system and were judged to be below 1:100,000. Removal of Lyt-2+ cells from responder LN cells before culture increases HTL-P frequency twofold to threefold, indicating the likely operation of some form of suppression in unseparated cultures. The demonstration of HSV-specific HTL-P required that cells from virus-primed mice be reexposed in vitro to viral antigen. In addition, clones expanded during a 9-day culture period failed to generate IL 2 unless reexposed to specific viral antigen or cross-reactivate HSV-2. Thus, HSV-specific HTL-P were strictly antigen dependent. No evidence was obtained for antigen-independent subpopulations of HTL-P as occurs with viral-specific cytotoxic T lymphocyte precursors. The clonal progeny of HTL-P were of the Thy-1+ Lyt+2- phenotype. Priming in vivo for the subsequent in vitro detection of HTL-P required that mice be exposed to infectious virus. Thus neither UV-inactivated nor heat-inactivated nor extracted viral glycoproteins could prime for HTL-P detection. The relevance of these findings for the future use of subunit vaccines against HSV is briefly discussed.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Prymowicz
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Rouse
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D002452:Cell Count; D003601:Cytotoxicity Tests, Immunologic / Q000379:methods; D000939:Epitopes; D006561:Herpes Simplex / Q000276:immunology*; D008198:Lymph Nodes / Q000166:cytology*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008809:Mice, Inbred C3H; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000276:immunology; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000276:immunology*; D006377:T-Lymphocytes, Helper-Inducer / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D000939:Epitopes