title: Contemporaneous fluctuations in T cell responses to persistent herpes virus infections.
abstract: The classical paradigm for T cell dynamics suggests that the resolution of a primary acute virus infection is followed by the generation of a long-lived pool of memory T cells that is thought to be highly stable. Very limited alteration in this repertoire is expected until the immune system is re-challenged by reactivation of latent viruses or by cross-reactive pathogens. Contradicting this view, we show here that the T cell repertoire specific for two different latent herpes viruses in the peripheral blood displayed significant contemporaneous co-fluctuations of virus-specific CD8(+) T cells. The coordinated responses to two different viruses suggest that the fluctuations within the T cell repertoire may be driven by sub-clinical viral reactivation or a more generalized 'bystander' effect. The later contention was supported by the observation that, while absolute number of CD3(+) T cells and their subsets and also the cell surface phenotype of antigen-specific T cells remained relatively constant, a loss of CD62L expression in the total CD8(+) T cell population was coincident with the expansion of tetramer-positive virus-specific T cells. This study demonstrates that the dynamic process of T cell expansion and contractions in persistent viral infections is not limited to the acute phase of infection, but also continues during the latent phase of infection.
authors.affiliation: Tumour Immunology Laboratory and Co-operative Centre for Vaccine Technology, Queensland Institute of Medical Research, Department of Molecular and Cellular Pathology, University of Queensland, Brisbane 4006, Australia.
authors.forename: Tania
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Crough
authors.forename: Jacqueline M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Burrows
authors.forename: Chrysa
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Fazou
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: Miles P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Davenport
authors.forename: Rajiv
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Khanna
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D002353:Carrier State / Q000276:immunology; D003587:Cytomegalovirus / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D003586:Cytomegalovirus Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D000939:Epitopes / Q000235:genetics; D020031:Epstein-Barr Virus Infections / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007156:Immunologic Memory; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D019041:L-Selectin / Q000378:metabolism; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D018448:Models, Immunological; D016176:T-Lymphocyte Subsets / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D000939:Epitopes; D019041:L-Selectin