Abstract Cytotoxic T lymphocyte (CTL) morphology and function was examined in beige (bg/bg) mutant mice during infection with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV). Virus-specific, class I-restricted CTL activity mediated by total spleen leukocytes isolated from bg/+ or +/+ mice on days 7 or 9 postinfection with LCMV was moderately higher than that mediated by spleen cells isolated from bg/bg mice. The CTL generated in bg/bg mice had aberrant morphology. Lyt-2+ cells isolated from bg/+ or +/+ mice had typical large granular lymphocyte (LGL) morphology and contained numerous small azurophilic granules, whereas Lyt-2+ cells isolated from bg/bg mice contained only one or two large atypical granules in their cytoplasm. Aberrant LGL morphology correlated with reduced lytic capacity. The bg/bg CTL were inefficient killer cells mediating, on a per cell basis, only one fourth of the lysis mediated by bg/+ CTL. The bg/bg mice appeared to mount a compensatory response to regulate virus replication, because frequencies of Lyt-2+ cells and cells that specifically bound to virus-infected target cells were elevated as compared with their frequencies in bg/+ mice. The higher proportion of the CTL phenotype cells appeared to be a consequence of expanded proliferation of Lyt-2+ cells. These results demonstrate that, in comparison with bg/+ and +/+ mice, bg/bg mice have CTL with reduced lytic capacities, but may compensate during virus infection by expanding the number of these cells. Furthermore, these data suggest that the depressed lytic activity may be a consequence of aberrant granule formation.
Lymphocytic choriomeningitis (LCM) virus infection of the mouse is the best-studied model of persistent viral infection. In cell culture, persistent LCM virus infections are associated with the production of large quantities of defective interfering (DI) LCM virus. These defective interfering particles cannot replicate by themselves yet can interfere with the replication of the standard virus and prevent the cytolytic effect caused by the standard virus. It is important to determine the mechanism of interference and to establish whether the DI virus plays a role in vivo. Biological and biochemical properties of the standard and DI virus particles and also virus enzymes are compared. Antigenic analyses reveal that cells releasing only DI virus particles have less cell surface expression of viral antigens than cells releasing the standard virus. In the animal model, the DI virus is shown to have a protective effect against the pathogenesis of the LCM virus disease both in the mouse and in the rat.
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A time course study was performed in order to determine if vaccinia virus (VV)-infected targets were more susceptible to murine natural killer (NK) cell-mediated lysis during a discrete period of time postinfection. Activated NK cells were used in short-term (e.g. 4 h) assays in order to avoid a further in vitro activation of the NK cells by interferon (IFN) and to test the innate susceptibility of target cells to lysis. The sensitivity of VV-infected L929 cells to lysis by NK cells increased as the infection progressed, reached a peak at approximately 24 h postinfection, and subsequently declined to levels lower than that of uninfected cells. This window of vulnerability was not due to an increase in the number of effector/target cell conjugates, which continually decreased as the VV infection progressed. Triggering of NK cells was measured by the influx of 45Ca2+. Target cells treated with IFN induced less 45Ca2+ uptake, whereas cycloheximide treatment of targets caused a greater influx of 45Ca2+ into the effector cells. When L929 cells were infected with VV for various time intervals and used in the triggering assays, an enhanced triggering of the effectors corresponding to the time of enhanced susceptibility of the target cells to lysis was detected. Quantitative decreases in H-2Kk and Dk class I antigens were observed following VV infection of target cells as measured by FACS analysis using alloantibodies. Qualitative changes in H-2 class I antigens were also observed, as detected by a loss in VV-infected target cell susceptibility to lysis by allospecific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL) at a time when they were highly sensitive to killing by NK cells and VV-specific CTL. These results show that virus-infected targets may become innately more sensitive to lysis by NK cells at discrete time points after infection and that the susceptibility to lysis correlates with enhanced triggering of NK cells and reduced H-2 class I antigen expression.
The in vivo state of CD8+ mouse memory CTL specific to lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) was characterized. During acute LCMV infection, the majority of the LCMV-specific CTL activity tested immediately ex vivo was mediated by CD8+ L-selectin- Mac-1+ CTL. The L-selectin- population of CD8+ cells elicited during acute infection also carried > 99% of the restimulatable CD8+ CTL precursors (CTLp) to LCMV, and these required added IL-2 for development into effectors in vitro. In contrast with the acute infection, most of the virus-specific CTLp in immune mice were L-selectin+. Examination of CD8+ T cells in LCMV-immune mice revealed that a L-selectin+ blast-size population of cycling CD8+ cells contained CTLp, which developed into effector CTL in the absence of added IL-2. These cells also expressed Mac-1 and IL-2R. Flow cytometric sorting for IL-2R+ and IL-2R- CD8+ cells in the immune animal revealed, by limiting dilution analysis, similar frequencies of CTLp in both populations. In bulk restimulation assays, the CD25+ CTLp did not require added IL-2 for their in vitro development into effectors, whereas the CD25- CTLp did. Hence, the different requirements for CTLp to effector development in vitro reflect qualitative differences in the in vivo state of the CTLp in the various subpopulations. LCMV-specific memory CTLp that did not require added IL-2 for differentiation were also found in the small-size, noncycling, CD8+L-selectin- cells. In contrast, the small-size, noncycling, CD8+L-selectin+, and CD8+IL-2R- populations also carried CTLp, but these required added IL-2 for development into effector CTL. Hence, T cell memory to LCMV is distributed among various lymphocyte subpopulations in immune animals, and the presence of an activated cycling cell component may account for the long-term perpetuation of antiviral immunologic memory.
SUMMARY A plaque assay is described in which cytolytic activity of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) is observed at low but not at high concentrations of infecting virus. Quantitation of the interference at high virus concentrations is detailed. Use of this assay during the course of the LCMV infection in L cells has shown that an interfering component is produced in abundance after the initial peak in infectivity in the medium has been reached. Thereafter the ability of the virus stock to form infective centres declines while the interference activity rises. Coinfection of L cells with high concentrations of one LCMV strain and low concentrations of any other tested strain prevents cellular destruction. When small virus inocula are used interference can be observed within single 'bull's eye' plaques which exhibit concentric rings of lysed and intact cells. Simultaneous infection of L cells with an auto-interfering concentration of LCMV does not interfere significantly with plaque formation by mengo, vaccinia, and vesicular stomatitis viruses, but reduces four- to fivefold the number of plaques formed by the Amapari and Parana viruses related to LCVM. Interferon does not play a role in the system described. The physical and the immunological data on the interfering substance are consistent with the hypothesis that defective-interfering virus particles are present in LCMV tissue culture stocks.
