title: T cell responses are required for protection from clinical disease and for virus clearance in severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-infected mice.
abstract: A dysregulated innate immune response and exuberant cytokine/chemokine expression are believed to be critical factors in the pathogenesis of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), caused by a coronavirus (SARS-CoV). However, we recently showed that inefficient immune activation and a poor virus-specific T cell response underlie severe disease in SARS-CoV-infected mice. Here, we extend these results to show that virus-specific T cells, in the absence of activation of the innate immune response, were sufficient to significantly enhance survival and diminish clinical disease. We demonstrated that T cells are responsible for virus clearance, as intravenous adoptive transfer of SARS-CoV-immune splenocytes or in vitro-generated T cells to SCID or BALB/c mice enhanced survival and reduced virus titers in the lung. Enhancement of the number of virus-specific CD8 T cells by immunization with SARS-CoV peptide-pulsed dendritic cells also resulted in a robust T cell response, earlier virus clearance, and increased survival. These studies are the first to show that T cells play a crucial role in SARS-CoV clearance and that a suboptimal T cell response contributes to the pathological changes observed in SARS. They also provide a new approach to SARS vaccine design.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, University of Iowa, 3-712 Bowen Science Building, 51 Newton Road, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
authors.forename: Jincun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Jingxian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Stanley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Perlman
mesh_terms: D019264:Adoptive Transfer; D000818:Animals; D008168:Lung / Q000821:virology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D016513:Mice, SCID; D045473:Severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus / Q000276:immunology*; D045169:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013154:Spleen / Q000276:immunology; D016019:Survival Analysis; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D014765:Viral Vaccines / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D014765:Viral Vaccines