TABLE 1.

TCR affinities of virus-specific CD8 T cells in the spleens and livers of mice during acute or persistent LCMV-Docile infections

Dose of LCMV-Docile (PFU)	Time after infection (days)	t1/2 of TCR-peptide-H-2Db interactiona
		Db-GP133-41		Db-NP396-404
		Spleen	Liver	Spleen	Liver
2 × 106	7	24.9 ± 0.3	38.8 ± 3.1	18.7 ± 0.5	18.2 ± 2.9
	9	37.2 ± 3.2	40.7 ± 3.2	48.5 ± 8.7	23.3 ± 2.0
	30	31.0 ± 0.9	48.2 ± 12.7	ND	ND
102	7	37.1 ± 2.1	31.2 ± 3.9	20.7 ± 1.5	18.4 ± 1.7
	9	57.2 ± 6.8	57.7 ± 7.0	56.7 ± 3.3	26.8 ± 3.5
	30	43.9 ± 5.4	56.1 ± 4.5	61.6 ± 5.3	60.5 ± 3.2

^aGP133-41 or NP396-404 peptide-specific CD8⁺ T cells in the spleens and livers of persistently (2 × 10⁶ PFU) or acutely (10² PFU) infected mice exhibited similar TCR affinities, as measured by a dissociation assay. Lymphocytes isolated on days 7, 9, and 30 after the infection of C57BL/6 mice were stained with the D^b-GP133-41 or D^b-NP396-404 peptide tetramer at room temperature. Cells were washed twice and incubated in the presence of a saturating amount of D^b monoclonal antibody. Dissociation was monitored for 0 to 180 min. The natural logarithm of the percentage of tetramer-positive T cells at each time point (compared to 0 min) was plotted against time. The half-life of each tetramer was derived from the slope by the equation t_1/2 = ln 2/slope, as described in Materials and Methods. Data shown are means ± SEM of t_1/2 expressed in minutes for three or four individual mice. ND, not done.