The proportion of herpes simplex virus-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes (Tc) that recognize glycoprotein C varies between individual mice and is dependent on the form of immunization

• Published in: Viral immunology Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 21
• Main Authors: Martin, S, Mercadal, C M, Weir, J P, Rouse, B T
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 1993
• Subjects: Animals; Antigens, Viral - immunology; Ear, External - microbiology; Female; H-2 Antigens - immunology; Herpes Simplex - prevention & control; Immunization - methods; Immunologic Memory; L Cells (Cell Line) - immunology; Mice; Mice, Inbred Strains - genetics; Mice, Inbred Strains - immunology; Recombinant Fusion Proteins - immunology; Simplexvirus - immunology; Simplexvirus - isolation & purification; T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic - immunology; Vaccines, Synthetic - immunology; Vaccinia virus; Viral Envelope Proteins - immunology; Viral Vaccines - immunology
• ISSN: 0882-8245
• DOI: 10.1089/vim.1993.6.21

In mice the immune response to HSV-1 includes a brisk Tc response that is intimately associated with the control of infection. This report evaluated the Tc response to gC, one of the envelope glycoproteins of HSV-1. This protein was recognized as a target antigen for Tc from HSV-1 immune mice only if they expressed the H-2Kb MHC allele. However, even within these "responder" strains of mice the proportion of gC specific Tc was highly variable. The failure of HSV-induced Tc to recognize gC in the context of other class 1 MHC haplotypes (H-2d and H-2k) was demonstrable at the clonal level and could not be attributed to peculiarities of the recombinant constructs. Surprisingly, despite the inability of H-2k-restricted, HSV-1-induced Tc to recognize gC, when a vaccinia gC virus construct was used to immunize H-2k strains of mice it showed a variable ability to induce memory Tc populations capable of lysing HSV-1-infected autologous cells. Of added importance was the correlation of this induced Tc response with optimum protection against subsequent challenge with HSV-1. This demonstrated that despite the presence of suitable epitopes, the context of the immunogen would also influence its ability to induce Tc. Consequently, the potential repertoire of available HSV-1-specific Tc specificities is larger than indicated by studying animals immunized with HSV.