Table 1.
MHV-68-specific CD8+ T cells enumerated by tetramer staining during acute and recrudescent infection
| Mice | Time | Percentage tetramer positive of the total CD8+ population
|
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BAL
|
Spleen
|
||||
| H-2Db-p56 | H-2Kb-p79 | H-2Db-p56 | H-2Kb-p79 | ||
| I-Ab+/+ | Day 13 | 14.6 ± 3.9 | 14.4 ± 3.1 | 4.5 ± 1.8 | 4.2 ± 2.5 |
| Day 90–115 | 3.2 ± 1.9 | 8.3 ± 1.9 | 0.9 ± 0.3 | 1.6 ± 0.5 | |
| I-Ab−/− | Day 13 | 10.4 ± 4.4 | 10.5 ± 4.7 | 4.6 ± 2.0 | 4.9 ± 2.5 |
| Day 90–115 | 5.4 ± 1.5 | 5.1 ± 0.4 | 3.5 ± 0.8 | 2.9 ± 1.4 | |
The spleen populations were enriched for the CD8+ set (>70% CD8) before assay by in vitro depletion with the GK1.5 mAb to CD4, followed by sheep-anti-rat Ig and sheep-anti-mouse Ig coated magnetic beads (Dynal). In each experiment, BAL samples were pooled from 3–6 mice, and spleen cells were analyzed from three separate individuals or from three pairs for each group. The results show the mean ± SD for three experiments. No significant difference was observed across the range of late time points used (90-115 days). At these times, the prevalence of p56-specific CD8+ T cells was significantly higher in the I-Ab−/− mice than in the I-Ab+/+ controls (P < 0.0001 by t test).