title: CD4 T cells inhibit the CD8 T cell response during low-dose virus infection.
abstract: CD4 T cells are not thought to play a significant role in generating an effective primary CD8 T cell response to most viral infections. We have challenged this view by demonstrating that antigen-specific CD4 T cells can indeed suppress the proliferation of antigen-specific naive CD8 T cells in response to low doses of vesicular stomatitis virus. This finding is in contrast to the established observations that at high antigen loads CD4 T cells play little role in generating CD8 T cell responses, and that in non-infectious model systems CD4 T cells actually help the CD8 T cell response. Our results suggest that at low infectious doses, CD4 T cells play a much larger role in controlling infections than previously appreciated.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Immunology, University of Connecticut Health Center, Farmington, 06030, USA. s.cose@bristol.ac.uk
authors.forename: Stephen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Cose
authors.forename: Clair
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Brammer
authors.forename: David J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Zammit
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Blair
authors.forename: Leo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lefrançois
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology; D015496:CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D016219:Immunotherapy, Adoptive / Q000379:methods*; D008213:Lymphocyte Activation; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D018353:Rhabdoviridae Infections / Q000276:immunology* / Q000628:therapy / Q000821:virology; D014721:Vesicular stomatitis Indiana virus / Q000276:immunology*
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral