A novel sensitive approach for frequency analysis of measles virus-specific memory T-lymphocytes in healthy adults with a childhood history of natural measles.

Abstract

Measles virus (MV), a single-stranded negative-sense RNA virus, is an important pathogen causing almost 1 million deaths annually. Acute MV infection induces immunity against disease throughout life. The immunological factors which are responsible for protection against measles are still poorly understood. However, T-cell-mediated immune responses seem to play a central role. The emergence of new single-cell methods for quantification of antigen-specific T-cells directly ex vivo has prompted us to measure frequencies of MV-specific memory T-cells. As an indicator for T-cell activation IFN-gamma production was measured. PBMC were analysed by intracellular staining and ELISPOT assay after stimulation with MV-infected autologous B-lymphoblastoid cell lines or dendritic cells. T-cell responses were exclusively seen with PBMC from MV-seropositive healthy adults with a history of natural measles in childhood. The median frequency of MV-specific T-cells was 0.35% for CD3(+)CD4(+) and 0.24% for the CD3(+)CD8(+) T-cell subset. These frequencies are comparable with T-cell numbers reported by other investigators for persistent virus infections such as Epstein-Barr virus, cytomegalovirus or human immunodeficiency virus. Hence, this study illustrates that MV-specific CD4(+) and CD8(+) T-cells are readily detectable long after the acute infection, and thus are probably contributing to long-term immunity. Furthermore, this new approach allows efficient analysis of T-cell responses from small samples of blood and could therefore be a useful tool to further elucidate the role of cell-mediated immunity in measles as well as in other viral infections.

• Authors: R Nanan, A Rauch, E Kämpgen, S Niewiesk, H W Kreth
• Journal: The Journal of general virology (J Gen Virol) Vol. 81 Issue Pt 5 Pg. 1313-9 (May 2000) ISSN: 0022-1317 [Print] England
• PMID: 10769074 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Interferon-gamma

Topics

• Adult
• Antigen-Presenting Cells (immunology, virology)
• Cell Line
• Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (methods)
• Humans
• Immunologic Memory
• Interferon-gamma (metabolism)
• Lymphocyte Activation
• Major Histocompatibility Complex
• Measles (immunology)
• Measles virus (immunology)
• T-Lymphocyte Subsets (immunology)