title: Enterovirus infections and enterovirus specific T-cell responses in infancy.
abstract: The development of enterovirus specific T-cell and antibody responses were examined in a cohort of 60 healthy infants at the ages of 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. By the age of 6 months, 68% of the infants had developed T-cell responses against enterovirus antigens by lymphocyte proliferation test, whereas only 30% had serological evidence of an enterovirus infection. By this age, only 7% of the infants had adenovirus specific T-cell responses and 3% had serologically verified adenovirus infection. Enterovirus specific T-cell responses correlated with the lack of enterovirus antibodies in cord blood and the number of sibs reflecting protection by maternal antibodies and the rate of exposures, respectively. T-cell responses cross-reacted between different enterovirus serotypes. The results show that enterovirus infections occur frequently in infancy and induce T-cell immunity. Cellular immunity may be a more sensitive indicator of neonatal enterovirus infections than antibodies.
authors.affiliation: Turku Immunology Centre and Department of Virology, University of Turku, Finland. sirpa.juhela@utu.fi
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Juhela
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hyöty
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lönnrot
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roivainen
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Simell
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ilonen
mesh_terms: D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000096:biosynthesis; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004770:Enterovirus / Q000276:immunology*; D029822:Enterovirus B, Human / Q000276:immunology; D004769:Enterovirus Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte / Q000276:immunology*; D005312:Fetal Blood / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D000956:Antigens, Viral; D018984:Epitopes, T-Lymphocyte